Hi Roger, Signal report comparisons with the modern radios that often have preamps that you can switch in or out really clouds the picture as well as the fact most stations on topband use RX antennas. Assuming that all manufacturers have S meters that are calibrated identical to each other (which is not the case), the big question is if the S meter calibration was done with the preamp on or off, and if the person that is giving you a signal report has the preamp on or off. As an example the Elecraft S meter uses the common standard of S9 = 50 uV but the calibration is done with Preamp 1 on. And when a station is using an RX antenna everything goes out the window since RX antennas often have very negative gain, and then if an external preamp is being used that adds another variable. And if just using a TX antenna for receive there is a lot of difference in each stations antenna effective gain (due to ground losses, etc.) that adds another variable.
A signal report of S2 or S6 tells me nothing on how well I am being heard since I need to know what your noise floor is too (unless you are telling me how many S units above your noise floor I am ????). What helps me the most is to understand how many dB above your noise floor I am, and that is why you will see that when I spot a station on DX Summit, I say how many dB the station is peaking and that means how many dB above my noise floor the station is peaking (I think this is similar to what you see for signal reports on the RBN). Just FYI, Don (wd8dsb) On Sun, Jan 17, 2021 at 8:04 AM Roger Kennedy <[email protected]> wrote: > > Well personally I always give Signal Strength reports from my S Meter . . > . > > So it doesn't matter whether my Noise Level is S2 or S6 . . . I'm telling > you how strong your signal is at my QTH. > > Roger G3YRO > > > _________________ > Searchable Archives: http://www.contesting.com/_topband - Topband > Reflector > _________________ Searchable Archives: http://www.contesting.com/_topband - Topband Reflector
