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Author Topic:   Estimating Antenna Performance

jimh posted 01-04-2009 11:53 AM ET (US)
The original article describing how to use remote NOAA Weather Radio broadcast stations as a test of the performance of your VHF Marine Band radio and antenna has been moved to the REFERENCE section. See http://continuouswave.com/whaler/reference/antennaRange.html
jimh posted 01-11-2009 04:40 PM ET (US)
RADIOWorks is available as a free download from its author's website at
http://deserthail.com/
It runs on the Windows operating system.
Marlin posted 01-11-2009 10:51 PM ET (US)
Jim, thanks for the reference to RadioWORKS. I just finished a line-of-sight analysis at work for a couple hundred thousand square miles out west using DTED data (which is a wonderful resource, but a pain in the neck to translate into something really useful). RadioWORKS might be very useful if I have to do some follow-up analysis on specific locations.
-Bob
Jefecinco posted 01-12-2009 10:21 AM ET (US)
Jim,
Thanks for that useful article. Your procedure will work well for me. My primary will be Mobile, AL with a solid white area signal, seconday will be Pensacola, FL with a green signal with a little scatter at home, and finally Gulfport, MS provides a red signal zone but not far out of the green area.
I believe I'm now getting two solid WX stations and one weak station. I'll verify the next time I have the cover off. But even if it's only two solid stations that says a lot for my ten year old GAM steel whip antenna.
Butch
Chuck Tribolet posted 01-12-2009 01:34 PM ET (US)
Do be a bit careful with these maps.
http://www.nws.noaa.gov/nwr/ca/monterey.gif is
WX1, general SF Bay Area weather, and comes in just fine in
Monterey.
http://www.nws.noaa.gov/nwr/ca/montmarine.gif is
WX5, Monterey Marine, is more or less unreceiveable in
Monterey.
They are located on the same tower and have maps that look
almost identical. There is clearly some difference.

Chuck
jimh posted 01-13-2009 08:19 AM ET (US)
Chuck--Call the local NOAA weather office and ask them if WWF64 is really on the air. It seems odd that there would be two transmitters on the same tower broadcasting the same information. I suspect that WWF64 might be a standby transmitter in case the primary KEC49 fails.
Chuck Tribolet posted 01-13-2009 10:18 AM ET (US)
Both are on the air. WX1 has land info and marine info,
WX5 has only marine info, so you get to what you want quicker.
BTW, thanx for the pointer to RadioWORKS. It's explaining
why I get some of the SF Digital TV stations (xmit from
San Bruno Mtn.) and not others (xmit from Sutro Tower). I'd
thought it was because San Bruno Mountain was blocking
Sutro Tower, but no, there's no blockage at that end, it's
a little hill near my house called El Toro.

Chuck
jimh posted 01-24-2009 02:12 PM ET (US)
I moved the initial article of this thread to the REFERENCE section to make it easier to find. There is a link back to this discussion so additional comments or questions can be handled.
jimh posted 07-05-2011 11:43 PM ET (US)
I added an addendum to the article to give details of some further reception reports from Leland, which included a spectacular signal from WGN684 from the upper peninsula of Michigan on a 78-mile path.

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Author	Topic: Estimating Antenna Performance
jimh	posted 01-04-2009 11:53 AM ET (US) The original article describing how to use remote NOAA Weather Radio broadcast stations as a test of the performance of your VHF Marine Band radio and antenna has been moved to the REFERENCE section. See http://continuouswave.com/whaler/reference/antennaRange.html
jimh	posted 01-11-2009 04:40 PM ET (US) RADIOWorks is available as a free download from its author's website at http://deserthail.com/ It runs on the Windows operating system.
Marlin	posted 01-11-2009 10:51 PM ET (US) Jim, thanks for the reference to RadioWORKS. I just finished a line-of-sight analysis at work for a couple hundred thousand square miles out west using DTED data (which is a wonderful resource, but a pain in the neck to translate into something really useful). RadioWORKS might be very useful if I have to do some follow-up analysis on specific locations. -Bob
Jefecinco	posted 01-12-2009 10:21 AM ET (US) Jim, Thanks for that useful article. Your procedure will work well for me. My primary will be Mobile, AL with a solid white area signal, seconday will be Pensacola, FL with a green signal with a little scatter at home, and finally Gulfport, MS provides a red signal zone but not far out of the green area. I believe I'm now getting two solid WX stations and one weak station. I'll verify the next time I have the cover off. But even if it's only two solid stations that says a lot for my ten year old GAM steel whip antenna. Butch
Chuck Tribolet	posted 01-12-2009 01:34 PM ET (US) Do be a bit careful with these maps. http://www.nws.noaa.gov/nwr/ca/monterey.gif is WX1, general SF Bay Area weather, and comes in just fine in Monterey. http://www.nws.noaa.gov/nwr/ca/montmarine.gif is WX5, Monterey Marine, is more or less unreceiveable in Monterey. They are located on the same tower and have maps that look almost identical. There is clearly some difference. Chuck
jimh	posted 01-13-2009 08:19 AM ET (US) Chuck--Call the local NOAA weather office and ask them if WWF64 is really on the air. It seems odd that there would be two transmitters on the same tower broadcasting the same information. I suspect that WWF64 might be a standby transmitter in case the primary KEC49 fails.
Chuck Tribolet	posted 01-13-2009 10:18 AM ET (US) Both are on the air. WX1 has land info and marine info, WX5 has only marine info, so you get to what you want quicker. BTW, thanx for the pointer to RadioWORKS. It's explaining why I get some of the SF Digital TV stations (xmit from San Bruno Mtn.) and not others (xmit from Sutro Tower). I'd thought it was because San Bruno Mountain was blocking Sutro Tower, but no, there's no blockage at that end, it's a little hill near my house called El Toro. Chuck
jimh	posted 01-24-2009 02:12 PM ET (US) I moved the initial article of this thread to the REFERENCE section to make it easier to find. There is a link back to this discussion so additional comments or questions can be handled.
jimh	posted 07-05-2011 11:43 PM ET (US) I added an addendum to the article to give details of some further reception reports from Leland, which included a spectacular signal from WGN684 from the upper peninsula of Michigan on a 78-mile path.