[Antennas] How can I tell if my signal is getting out?

[Milt Jensen]

> The antennas, path, power levels, etc. can all meet the
> requirements, but if Station A has a vacuum cleaner running next door with
> an S9+20 dB local noise level and Station B does not, then all bets are
> off.
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George says it all.  In my 40+ years of dealing with everything from DC to
daylight, the #1 criteria of being able to be heard at the other end is the
ambient noise level at that location.  Currently I am doing a lot of work at
2.4 gHz as a wireless ISP.  I have found that the 32 mW output power from a
Lucent PCMCIA card works just fine over 20+ mile paths to locations with low
noise levels when fed into a 24 dBi 1/2 parabolic antenna .  On the flip
side, I have problems maintaining paths of a mile or less with the same type
of antenna system, even with 1 Watt of transmitter power, where the ambient
noise level is high.

All else being equal, it is a simple matter of the recieved signal being
stronger than the noise level.

Milt, N5IA