[TowerTalk] Perspectve

[James R. Duffey]

All - I find the discussion on trying to demonstrate what a dB is worth
fascinating. Let me put in my $0.02pi  worth.  (pi is an irrational number).

A few years ago I took the Sweepstakes results and compared the  QSOs and
sections worked for the QRP (<5W), low power (100 W), and High Power
(1500W).

There was no difference in the sections worked; the QRP winner had a clean
sweep as did the High power winner, but the 100 W station missed by 1 or 2
sections. My conclusion was that a dB didn't matter much, if at all, when it
came to multipliers in Sweepstakes. I haven't looked at the DX contests.

I don't recall the exact numbers, but it seemed to me that there was a
factor of slightly  greater than 2 in QSOs between the QRP winner and the
High power winner. I think that the 100 watt winner was slightly in between

There is a 13 dB difference between the 5 W and 100 W levels, and another 11
dB or so between the 100 W and 1500 W level.

Again the gain in QSOs between the power levels seems disproportionate to
the power gain required, and there seems to be no advantage, at least in
Sweepstakes, in getting more multipliers. Part of this may be due to the
limited nubmer of multipliers in SS, and it may just take the QRP station a
bit longer to get them all.

I realize that this is not a serious analysis, but it does point out trends.
Maybe after I get done here I will go look at the 99 numbers for SS.
Exercises in  numerology are so much fun.

To reiterate what somebody else said, I think that careful listening over a
period of time to the NCDXF beacons is as good a learning experience as
there is as to what different signal levels mean. - Dr. Megacycle KK6MC/5

The best   
-- 
James R. Duffey KK6MC/5
30 Casa Loma Road
Cedar Crest, NM 87008


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