[TowerTalk] 160M Antenna puzzlement

[Jim Brown]

On 12/20/2021 10:11 AM, Jeff Blaine wrote:
> The difference between 8 short radials and 64 long ones is about 3 dB 
> per N6LF.  That's half an S-unit.  It's significant, but in the scheme 
> of things, having a manageable SWR that you can use an amp with (+10 dB 
> on TX) - and a dedicated RX antenna (lower noise floor) will get a guy 
> working more stations in either contesting or DX - than a great ground 
> system alone.

Both points are right on, BUT -- just as most of us are alligators so 
need better RX, we need a bigger signal to get over their noise too. 
When I was running a manually tuned Ten Tec Titan amp and S&P up and 
down 160, I wouldn't re-tune the amp, letting power drop a couple of dB. 
When I did re-tune and call again, I'd get stations I'd missed. A couple 
of dB DOES make a difference when either signal is close to the noise.

73, Jim K9YC