Topband: Tuned speaker revisited

[Ron Spencer]

James,



Yes, I too had trouble wrapping my mind around what my buddy said. 



JC did make a very valid point. We can use the antenna directivity to change the local noise and improve the SNR. What I should have started with is the signal is what it is. We can't affect it no matter what we do. If its X microvolts (or whatever units you choose) we can not change it. 



James I was talking about the SNR of the signal arriving at our antennas. You are talking about audio and acoustics which is different. It can only act on the signal we input to our receiver. Can't improve the SNR of the input signal. 



I think audio is much more complicated to understand than rf.  Why does adding binaural effects help us (or some of us) copy better? I wish I knew!



What I like about this group is there are a LOT of smart people in it and ideas can be reviewed , criticism offered and the original idea can be refined. Good stuff.


Ron 



Sent using https://www.zoho.com/mail/ 








From: JAMES WOLF <jbwolf at comcast.net>
To: <n4is at comcast.net>, "JC(Jose Carlos) via Topband"<topband at contesting.com>, "Ron Spencer"<ron.spencer at zoho.com>
Date: Tue, 10 Feb 2026 12:44:58 -0500
Subject: Re: Topband: Tuned speaker revisited



JC, 
 
After my own initial guffaws at Ron's comment, I now think that what he was getting at is that the signal and the noise arriving at any collective device doesn't care what collects it.  Referencing his comment about the binoculars being about to see a star that the naked eye cannot. Its the same with an antenna; the binoculars can see something because the lens capture area is much larger than the human eye. 
 
My own experience, (and I have not built a resonant speaker), is that even individual room acoustics can make the difference between hearing a signal and not. Even the type of noise, atmospheric or man made, (for me), can change what the audio filter frequency where I want to listen. 
 
Jim - KR9U 
 
> " SNR is independent of the radio, the antenna or anything in between. The 
> SNR at a dipole is the same as at a 4 element beam. "