[TowerTalk] 5 db required to see?

[Bill Coleman AA4LR]

On 5/24/00 10:16 PM, Pete Smith at n4zr@contesting.com wrote:

>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.  

This assumes that the operater's skill is sufficient to take advantage of 
the 1 dB difference. 

It's certainly possible to have antennas that work far better than the 
operator's skill. Witness all of the tribander / wires stations at WRTC 
who turned in tremendous scores with highly skilled operators.

Another aspect may come into play. It's conceivable that a modestly 
skilled operator using a not-to-directional antenna, and unfamiliar with 
all the nuances of propagation could capture more multipliers by chance 
than the same operator with a very directional antenna. 

I'm of the opinion that operator skill is a bigger factor in producing 
scores than antennas.





Bill Coleman, AA4LR, PP-ASEL        Mail: aa4lr@radio.org
Quote: "Boot, you transistorized tormentor! Boot!"
            -- Archibald Asparagus, VeggieTales


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