Dave, Well stated.
73, Bill K9YEQ -----Original Message----- That's a good resource but it doesn't tell the whole story. An amplifier will give you around 10 db improvement in signal on the other end. That's more than the difference between a dipole and a five element monobander. As little as 3 or 4 db will make a significant difference when competing against others in a pileup, and of course as little as 2 db can make the difference between no copy and clear copy if your signal is right at the noise level. http://www.ab7e.com/weak_signal/mdd.html Hams have turned their noses up at amplifiers for decades, but the reality is that an amplifier and a decent vertical is often a more cost effective way to put out a good signal than is low power to a tower and big antenna ... especially if you live in a low noise area where you don't need lots of discrimination to hear DX (and even then there are compact receive loops that make possible alternatives). Dave AB7En 3/22/2013 12:49 PM, Ron D'Eau Claire wrote: > For the newer hams, here's an interesting resource that will > demonstrate to you what a DX signal sounds like at 100 watts, 10 > watts, 1 watt and 0.1 watt. All you have to do it tune into the beacon > frequency of 14.100, 18.110, 21.150, 24.930, 28.200 using CW mode and > listen. The beacon stations in 18 countries take turns sending call > signs and 4 dashes, each dash in descending power level. You might be > amazed at how often you can hear 10 watts or less clearly from half way around the world when the band is open. > > When the band is not open, a kilowatt doesn't get through. > > A complete list of the stations, locations and the transmission > sequence is > at: > > http://www.ncdxf.org/beacon/beaconSchedule.html > > IIRC, all of the stations use a simple 1/4 wave vertical antenna. > > I'm not saying that an amplifier isn't useful, but this helps put the > advantage of having one in perspective. > > 73, Ron AC7AC ______________________________________________________________ Elecraft mailing list Home: http://mailman.qth.net/mailman/listinfo/elecraft Help: http://mailman.qth.net/mmfaq.htm Post: mailto:Elecraft@mailman.qth.net This list hosted by: http://www.qsl.net Please help support this email list: http://www.qsl.net/donate.html
