Decibels in Ham Radio: The Essential Breakdown!

  Рет қаралды 6,256

TheSmokinApe

TheSmokinApe

Күн бұрын

Пікірлер: 81
@KS0JD
@KS0JD Ай бұрын
That just added about 10db to everyone's understanding of decibels. Thanks for the video Ape! 73
@TheSmokinApe
@TheSmokinApe Ай бұрын
Thanks Jeff 👍
@Andrew-yx7sf
@Andrew-yx7sf Ай бұрын
This was a nice straightforward explanation.
@TheSmokinApe
@TheSmokinApe Ай бұрын
Thanks Andrew, glad you liked it 🍻
@je845
@je845 Күн бұрын
Your absolutely correct, that s**t is confusing. I put in a request months ago for a video on this topic. Thank you for responding, clarification, and parting knowledge. Job very well done!!! KC2VAB 73
@TheSmokinApe
@TheSmokinApe 14 сағат бұрын
lol, glad you liked it je 👍
@dougtaylor7724
@dougtaylor7724 Ай бұрын
I found this one of your best videos. Raised my understanding about 3 S units over the noise floor here on KZbin. 😂
@TheSmokinApe
@TheSmokinApe Ай бұрын
LOL, glad you liked it Doug. Thanks for watching 👍
@germanjohn5626
@germanjohn5626 Ай бұрын
Nice video, easy to undeerstand for those that want to know, and mindblowing complicated for those who memorized the ham radio test and don't care about the basics.
@TheSmokinApe
@TheSmokinApe Ай бұрын
Thanks for watching John 👍
@Ed-vi6tg
@Ed-vi6tg Ай бұрын
i thought the presentation was horrible. I recommend reading the ARRL's Amateur Radio Handbook.
@paulw1119
@paulw1119 Ай бұрын
Big thanks for this short, stil thorough, explanation on a confusing topic 👍
@TheSmokinApe
@TheSmokinApe Ай бұрын
Glad you liked it Paul, thank you for watching.
@acestudioscouk-Ace-G0ACE
@acestudioscouk-Ace-G0ACE Ай бұрын
Very useful for new learners and for the experienced to revise. I found the dBm section particularly useful. Thanks, Ape.
@TheSmokinApe
@TheSmokinApe Ай бұрын
Hey Ace, glad you liked it 👍
@HOAHamRadio
@HOAHamRadio Ай бұрын
I think I picked up about 2db of the 10db shared...that's more than I started with. Always enjoy the education!
@TheSmokinApe
@TheSmokinApe Ай бұрын
LOL, thanks for watching Bob 👍
@tamstutz921
@tamstutz921 Ай бұрын
Extremely helpful video. Thanks for putting this together.
@TheSmokinApe
@TheSmokinApe Ай бұрын
Glad it was helpful, thank you for watching 👍
@t.j.speakman7723
@t.j.speakman7723 Ай бұрын
Thanks APE, I just can't believe an antenna company would try to separate me from my funds. Always great info from you.
@TheSmokinApe
@TheSmokinApe Ай бұрын
lol, thanks for watching TJ 👍
@kb5miqbigboy
@kb5miqbigboy Ай бұрын
Great video!!! That explains it best ive heard!73!
@TheSmokinApe
@TheSmokinApe Ай бұрын
Thanks BigBoy!
@Bill-HRT
@Bill-HRT Ай бұрын
Ape! In all seriousness, when you explain this way, I can make sense of it. Great job. I'm saving this for reference. Thanks. See you out there. 73 de Bill
@TheSmokinApe
@TheSmokinApe Ай бұрын
Howdy Bill, glad you liked it and thank you for watching 👍
@AD6DMDennis
@AD6DMDennis Ай бұрын
Thanks for this explanation. A TheSmokinApe sticker on your hamradio laptop adds 6dB, which is a quadruple power increase.
@TheSmokinApe
@TheSmokinApe Ай бұрын
You damn right!
@mikehartman9809
@mikehartman9809 Ай бұрын
Thank you! Great, easy to follow info! Please cover more subjects if you can . Will like and subscribe . 73
@TheSmokinApe
@TheSmokinApe Ай бұрын
Thanks Mike, that’s the plan 👍
@hughpatterson1480
@hughpatterson1480 Ай бұрын
That was a fantastic explanation of dBi and dBd. Yeah, I get suspicious of antenna manufacturer claims. When I first got into HF and DXing, I would get an antenna that the manufacturer claimed would give me a specific dB gain over other antennas. I'd set the antenna up and get results that were nowhere near the manufacturer's claims. I felt that I had done something wrong. I'd spend hours trying to get tweak the antenna. I wish I would have seen this video back then. Thanks for another clear explanation that didn't require an electrical engineering dictionary to understand! 73...Hugh...KN6KNB
@TheSmokinApe
@TheSmokinApe Ай бұрын
Hey Hugh, thanks for watching. There are some good folks selling antennas but unfortunately some are pretty terrible.
@youtubeaccount931
@youtubeaccount931 Ай бұрын
This goes in my Epic playlist
@TheSmokinApe
@TheSmokinApe Ай бұрын
Awesome
@robertmeyer4744
@robertmeyer4744 Ай бұрын
That was great Ape ! Not many know the DB came from the telephone BELL . Bell labs . I was comparing 2 UNUN today . 4:1 different core and wraps on some 25FT wire. I folded back to tune 1.1 on 28.074 MHZ . 1 UNUN is FT 240-43 wrap with #14 PTFE wire 15/30 wrap. The outher is T200-2 RED core wrap 8/16 . No noticeable difference on TX and RX. SWR about same swapping UNUN leaving wire same length . No heating on core only had a QT 60-60 watt radio. I did a bunch of 60 watt SSB contacts . 10/11/12 was wide open ! I even herd 10 meter AM on 29 MHZ and tried and no contact . QT 60 does 50 watt PEP on AM. Did not try FM . 73
@TheSmokinApe
@TheSmokinApe Ай бұрын
I like that QT60, thanks for watching Robert 👍
@tomwright4450
@tomwright4450 Ай бұрын
Many transceivers conventionally use a scale of 3 dB per S unit (It used to be always 6dB per S Unit)). While it may seem trivial to tell a ham operator that their 1 kW setup only results in a 2 S unit increase, the reality is more nuanced. In practice, those who own an amplifier and conduct A/B comparisons often find that when they ask the receiving ham operator to assess the signal strength, about 90% report a difference of 3 to 4 S units when switching from 100 watts to 1,000 watts. This observation suggests that S units may reflect a more common scale of 3 dB per unit, rather than the traditional assumption of 6 dB. DE NN2X / Tom
@TheSmokinApe
@TheSmokinApe Ай бұрын
I think I did a video for this but I can't remember... either way, I'd be happy to do more "S-meter, truth or dare" videos.
@lifegettingintheway2710
@lifegettingintheway2710 Ай бұрын
The bel has an interesting past and what was then is not now in practical use. The story reminds one of the relationship between the ruts in the road caused by draught oxen determining the size of the space shuttle (and railroad tracks). It begins with a twisted pair of 16 gauge wire. Because YT does not permit links you will have to google "The 600 ohm audio standard, where did it go?" It is an interesting story. If you are lucky enough to have a Simpson 260 VOM with a DB scale you will need a 600 ohm loaded reference signal to use it.
@TheSmokinApe
@TheSmokinApe Ай бұрын
Thanks for the info LGITW 👍
@James_Bowie
@James_Bowie Ай бұрын
Can we trust S meters to be 6dB per division? Would be interesting to test/calibrate some on a selection of ICOM, Yaesu, etc, radio models.
@TheSmokinApe
@TheSmokinApe Ай бұрын
I can test a few radios and see how they do?
@James_Bowie
@James_Bowie Ай бұрын
@@TheSmokinApe OK, I think that would make an interesting video. 👍
@dougdaniels
@dougdaniels Ай бұрын
Similar to measuring the strength of an earthquake. A magnitude 6 is 10x that of a magnitude 5, and a magnitude 7 is 100x a magnitude 5.
@TheSmokinApe
@TheSmokinApe Ай бұрын
Exactly like that 👍
@godarklight
@godarklight Ай бұрын
The 3db rule is a good one to remember, but so is the 10db being 10x. Also as a 7300 owner our S points are only 3db, makes the noise look artificially lower than it is...
@TheSmokinApe
@TheSmokinApe Ай бұрын
Artificially lows how they get you. Thanks for watching GDL 👍
@P.SeanCoady
@P.SeanCoady Ай бұрын
In 1928, the Bell system renamed the TU into the decibel, being one tenth of a newly defined unit for the base-10 logarithm of the power ratio. It was named the bel, in honor of the telecommunications pioneer Alexander Graham Bell. The bel is seldom used, as the decibel was the proposed working unit. Wiki. I believe the national bureau of standards has a bell that is a reference to one BELL and one tenth at a prescribed distance is one decibel.
@TheSmokinApe
@TheSmokinApe Ай бұрын
Thanks Sean
@glantch
@glantch Ай бұрын
Very helpful video - thanks! I have a question: on my portable shortwave radio, the display shows signal strength as dBm or dBi. What do those mean in terms of signal strength on receive?
@P.SeanCoady
@P.SeanCoady Ай бұрын
@@glantch dBi refers to decibels measured against an isotropic reference antenna a antenna that radiates equal in all directions. It is a theoretical antenna since all antennas have some type of pattern here on earth....right DBm is decibel measured against one milliwatt as a reference .
@donausmus4281
@donausmus4281 Ай бұрын
Thanks for the video!! A video well worth archiving! K1DLA
@TheSmokinApe
@TheSmokinApe Ай бұрын
Hey Don, glad you liked it 🍻
@bassangler73
@bassangler73 Ай бұрын
I'm still laughing at the intro Ape...lol.. Good explanation though seriously..I guess after people take their Tech Test, they forget this stuff. But I guess if you're not around it a lot, it goes up in smoke..😂...
@TheSmokinApe
@TheSmokinApe Ай бұрын
Hey BA, thanks for watching bro 🍻
@minicowman
@minicowman Ай бұрын
I was searching for some cat videos.. but this one was pretty good too. 😉😋
@TheSmokinApe
@TheSmokinApe Ай бұрын
It's hard to find a good cat video...
@Swamp-Fox
@Swamp-Fox Ай бұрын
If I would have known how cool logarithms are, I might have paid better attention in school!
@TheSmokinApe
@TheSmokinApe Ай бұрын
lol, thanks for watching SF 👍
@lifegettingintheway2710
@lifegettingintheway2710 Ай бұрын
The human ear is logarithmic. That drove a lot of science.
@TheSmokinApe
@TheSmokinApe Ай бұрын
Correct, I think 👍
@DonDegidio
@DonDegidio Ай бұрын
Hi Ape, Good explanations, however Icom in their infinite wisdom has been using 3 dB per S unit since releasing the IC-7300. Stay safe. 73 WJ3U
@TheSmokinApe
@TheSmokinApe Ай бұрын
Hey Don, unfortunately there is no “standard” for S-level. The only thing manufacturers seem to agree on is -72dBm or so for s9.
@DonDegidio
@DonDegidio Ай бұрын
@@TheSmokinApe Well, every amateur radio manufacturer has been using 6dB per S unit except for Icom when they released the IC-7300. I think it's -73 dBm for S9 on the HF bands. 73 WJ3U
@DonDegidio
@DonDegidio Ай бұрын
@@TheSmokinApe I should mention it is industry accepted that one S unit is a 6 dB change in signal strength below an S9 signal level. WJ3U
@TheSmokinApe
@TheSmokinApe Ай бұрын
@@DonDegidio there is nothing saying that radios have to be designed that way, that’s my only point
@mikesradiorepair
@mikesradiorepair Ай бұрын
@@TheSmokinApe My original post got blocked because of reference to a website. I made a separate comment (without the link) to the IARU HF and VHF Managers Handbook that does have a standard for S-meter calibration. And for HF it's -73dBm not -72dBm for S-9. Been around since the 1980's.
@temporarilyoffline
@temporarilyoffline Ай бұрын
School is in!
@TheSmokinApe
@TheSmokinApe Ай бұрын
You damn right
@hazer72
@hazer72 Ай бұрын
You down with dBd? Yeah you know me! 😃
@TheSmokinApe
@TheSmokinApe Ай бұрын
Naughty!
@BLACKHEAT1028
@BLACKHEAT1028 Ай бұрын
OPP...other peoples portables
@Siskiyous6
@Siskiyous6 Ай бұрын
3dB is how they get ya
@TheSmokinApe
@TheSmokinApe Ай бұрын
Every damn time.
@johnnorth9355
@johnnorth9355 Ай бұрын
All I know is that in contests everything seems to be 59 lol. Me ? I can either hear something or I can't. 73 M7BLC
@TheSmokinApe
@TheSmokinApe Ай бұрын
lol, everyone gets a 599!
@TheRealEtaoinShrdlu
@TheRealEtaoinShrdlu Ай бұрын
Uhm, it's "exponentially" (i.e. relating to exponents), not "expidentially" 😂😂😂
@TheSmokinApe
@TheSmokinApe Ай бұрын
That’s what I said, right?
@rawcado
@rawcado Ай бұрын
@@TheSmokinApe No, you kept saying expidentially as in expidite and expiditious which means quickly, not as in exponent and exponential which means expounding or expanding a value by orders of powers.
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