[TowerTalk] 5 db required to see?

[Pete Smith]

At 09:48 PM 5/24/00 -0400, Guy Olinger, K2AV wrote:
... On 40 meters there were only three layers.

I think this "layer" terminology is misleading.  What we're really talking
about is the QSO/multiplier advantage that results, over 48 hours, from
having as little as 1 db more effective gain at the arrival angles needed
for communication with a given area.  Here in the East, where Europe is
almost the whole game, particularly so far as rate is concerned, we're
talking about being 1 dB louder into Europe.  Over 48 hours, and a thousand
contacts or so, it is inevitable that the 1-dB advantage will result in a
few QSOs made that would not have been, otherwise.  

Can you hear the difference, reliably, during any given QSO - of course
not.  Is that 1 dB worth finding?  You bet! 

73, Pete Smith N4ZR
n4zr@contesting.com 



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