The 5NN discussion brought up an interesting subject to me. Signal strengths reported on 75M SSB are funny to listen too as people seem to be in a "mines bigger than yours" competition on how many dB above S9 a signal is. Meanwhile their noise floor is probably S7 or more - what's the point?
Here at N1UR, on 160, I have switchable T verticals (EU direction and Omni). I NEVER listen on them. Nighttime noise floor is typically S5 - 7 in the winter on them with static crashes well over S9 if there is storming in the east half of the US (for CW). I have done some signal strength comparisons with EU stations and Carib stations vs my beverages. Typically, on 160M, I leave the preamp off for my beverages. The received noise floor for my N/S beverage (on CW) is usually S2 - 3 and for my phased EU beverages is S0 to S1. I have found the signal strengths of the received stations to be 1 to 2 S units down on the beverage and equal or stronger on the beverage if I turn the preamp on - with usually a rise in the noise floor by a 1 or 2 S units. Interestingly, on 80M CW, I usually use the beverage preamp. The signal often comes up 3 - 4 S units and the noise only 1 to 2 S units. I often drop in some attenuation to make the noise floor "just" go away. What do others see as the difference in transmit antenna vs low noise antenna signal strengths? N1UR _________________ Topband Reflector Archives - http://www.contesting.com/_topband