[AMRadio] Re:Reactor Wanted

[SBJohnston at aol.com]

Another twist in measurement of peak output power is how you defining peak 
duration.  Test gear varies in short a peak it can respond to.  

We can split this hair pretty fine... but does it really matter?   Do FCC 
inspectors of amateur stations even exist any longer?   It has been a loooonng 
time since I ran into one in professional circles, never in the amateur realm... 
 Twenty years ago I was involved in training Commission inspectors for 
several services, and the most complicated test gear they had for measuring power 
was a Bird 43 or equivalent.  Maybe now they've got a peak-reading Bird (since 
lots of commercial stuff is multiple-carrier on one transmission line these 
days).  But  quite often these guys were quite happy to use the existing metering 
in the station and just wrote down the reading.

I'd think it more likely today they'd sit in the car and make field-strength 
measurements of your signal at a given distance - a pretty rough gauge of 
transmitter power in amateur stations.   Good luck to you if you have an 
extra-efficient antenna...

Steve WD8DAS




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