[TowerTalk] 5 db required to see?

[n4kg@juno.com]

On Wed, 24 May 2000  K3BU@aol.com writes:

> n4zr@contesting.com writes:

>  I think this "layer" terminology is misleading. 

You can look at it as a pyramid built out of the layers. 
The more gain (fractions of dB) the lower and wider the 
"layers" of pyramid can be worked. 

If you picture KC1XX as the top, and Gino with bedsprings 
as antenna as the bottom layer, every dB gets you another 
layer (bigger) of little guys. That's what wins the contest - 
how many guys one can work, that others can't even hear.    
SNIP   ....Yuri  K3BU

ABSOLUTELY !  Hearing the little guys with horrible
locations and/or antennas is what makes the difference.

It never ceases to amaze me to see the difference in
signal strength between the DX stations you hear CQing
and the guys who answer YOUR CQ's.  Sometimes it's
as much as 40 dB, even on the high bands.  This goes 
WAY beyond power differentials which might be 10 to 
12 dB.  The QRP'ers with modest antennas are louder
than the bottom layers of 100 W guys and poor antennas
and/or locations.
	
No one has even mentioned local and/or atmospheric noise
considerations so far in this discussion.  That can be even
more important than a dB or two of antenna gain.  This may
also explain why many of the East Coast guys prefer 
antennas with high F/B ratios.  It helps them hear the
weaker stations on crowded bands.

For hunt and call operation, I prefer low F/B ratio antennas
to pick up the occassional multiplier to the South or West.

On 40M, hearing those incredibly weak Europeans through
the QRM and QRN is the biggest limitation.  My Beverages
are quieter than my beam or former 2L Delta Loop but often
the signals are then too weak to copy.  No wonder W3LPL
and W4AN (among others) use Phased Beverages with
additional gain for receiving on the low bands (including 40M).  

On 20M, finding a frequency I can hold from one skip zone
SW of W1 is tough.  Often I am forced to CQ in the higher
end of the band where the digital types like to dump their
trash on you after every CQ, even above 14100 !  Fortunately
I have learned to copy through / around it, but it does slow
you down compared to what could be done on a clear freq.

My GUESS is that anything which improves your signal
to noise ratio on RECEIVE is more important than on
Transmit, given an already good antenna / height / power
level.
	
de  Tom  N4KG

in North Alabama where my first hop
to Europe lands in W1 / 2 / VE / VO.
	

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