Topband: Skimmer calibration

[Guy Olinger K2AV]

Do we really care that skimmers aren't hooked up to antennas with
pattern and gain?  One of the things in using VOACAP is knowing the
pattern of the RX antenna as well as TX. Omni pattern at RX removes RX
antenna bias.  Why shouldn't we specifically use omni on RX, so that
any enhancement is from the sender or the propagation/environment?

The thing about sensitivity is that it rarely matters if the
out-there-on-the-band noise is controlling. Band-noise controlling is
far more common on 160 than 80 and above.

Running stuff from here to W4KAZ 7+ miles away always shows an initial
3-4 dB drop in S/N when the band just starts to open.  Why I generally
run stuff to him in the middle of the day when I want to know the
numbers.

73, Guy

On Tue, Aug 19, 2014 at 12:06 PM, Tim Shoppa <tshoppa at gmail.com> wrote:
> I quickly noticed that some skimmers seem to have more effective antenna
> systems than others.
>
> More than S/N, I look at kinda the breadth and depth of where I'm spotted.
> On 160M, GW8IZR and DL1A are where I'm first spotted. If I'm getting
> spotted more broadly or deeply than that, then I know conditions are really
> good.
>
> Tim N3QE
>
>
> On Tue, Aug 19, 2014 at 5:33 AM, Mike Waters <mikewate at gmail.com> wrote:
>
>> When I last investigated, all the skimmers and Web SDRs that were outside
>> of North America all had terrible receive antennas for copying DX signals
>> on 160. (And who knows how many of them are in quiet locations?)
>>
>> When I say "terrible", I mean small "magnetic" loops, very short whips, low
>> dipoles, a random end-fed wire, etc. No phased arrays or Beverages, and not
>> even a Flag, K9AY, EWE, etc.
>>
>> Does anyone know if that is still the case?
>>
>> 73, Mike
>> www.w0btu.com
>> _________________
>> Topband Reflector Archives - http://www.contesting.com/_topband
>>
> _________________
> Topband Reflector Archives - http://www.contesting.com/_topband