[FoxHunt] Attenuator

[cscharlau]

Just to be contrary...

Whether you want an offset attenuator, a resistor-network step attenuator, both, or neither, depends a lot on what you want to do with it. If you want to simply knock the signal strength down so that your S-meter remains usable all the way until you are a few feet from the transmitter, then you probably want one of the offset attenuators you've seen described.

If, however, you'd like to use your attenuator to get a quantitative measure of your progress toward the transmitter, then you will probably want a calibrated step attenuator. Everytime you need to switch in 6 additional dB of attenuation to bring your S-meter to the same signal strength reading, you have moved half the distance to the transmitter. (Of course, this works best if you can be confident that you have a nearly line-of-sight path when you take your S-meter measurements.)  Now, try dialing in 6 dB of attenuation with your average offset attenuator, which doesn't give you any indication of the actual attenuation you're using!

You might want to use both a calibrated step attenuator and an offset attenuator. That way you can have the best that both have to offer.

Happy Hunting,
Charles
NZ0I