Since no one likely knows the gain of a reference antenna within a dB or so,
splitting hairs doesn't matter.
Ten dB would jump right out, while 3 dB might get lost in the QSB.
When I was comparing high dipoles to verticals on 160, I collected reports
for about a year. It was thousands of reports.
I probably could have done it in a week or two with skimmer, but then I
would have had to repeat it for seasonal changes. I'm sure a good test
protocol using skimmer could be worked out.
----- Original Message -----
From: "Jim Brown" <jim@audiosystemsgroup.com>
To: <topband@contesting.com>
Sent: Monday, August 18, 2014 12:47 PM
Subject: Re: Topband: Skimmer calibration
On Mon,8/18/2014 4:53 AM, Tom W8JI wrote:
A live comparison of S/N ratio or relative level over time is with very
few exceptions an excellent comparative test. It is much more accurate
than S meters or absolute levels without a comparison reference. As such,
the RBN is a great tool for evaluating systems.
Yes. BUT -- my experience has been that I must average hundreds of data
points to get meaningful data. The reasons are simple -- we must contend
with QSB, and as Tom noted in another post, nulls in the patterns of
antennas at both ends. A few years ago, I tried to compare two 160M
antennas using JT65 and W6CQZ's JT65 RBN. On a good night, I would see
reports from 3-4 stations east of the Mississippi. I alternated between
the two antennas for hours, putting the reports in a spreadsheet, and
studying the data. Modelling predicted differences of a few dB, and I
never found that the data was good enough to confirm the models. The
antennas are passive arrays of fairly tall verticals of a quarter wave or
less, so there are no vertical nulls in their pattern. I can clearly hear
their directivity on RX, but their gain is what I was trying to confirm.
73, Jim K9YC
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