[WIARC] HT Shootout

[Michael Black via WIARC]

Bring your HT to the next club meeting July 1st at 1930 for the first HT
Shootout!!  See how good your HT is and what kind of a counterpoise you make
for your HT -- does size matter :-)  ??

We'll be doing nifty certificate awards for each competition class.

#1 Stock - this is based on the honor system that the radio you use is
as-purchased from the dealer.
#2 Stock modified - still using a non-directional antenna but can be
after-market 
#3 Open - do what you want.  Pringle antenna, yagi, or whatever floats your
boat.

What we'll be doing..

There will be a spot where you will stand out in front of the Red Cross
building on the SW corner.
The target receiver is 4.5 miles ESE to a Diamond  antenna in my attic.
You'll transmit with the radio in "speaking mode" for at least 7 seconds
continuous and you have to be able to speak into whatever microphone you
have.  You may hold the radio however you desire as long as the microphone
is usable.
You will not be told what your signal level is since you normally would
never know.

My computer at home is monitoring the signal level from an ICOM 706MKIIG
with some software I wrote.
I tested it with my Baofeng GT-3 and the stock antenna and got this result,
first measurement here is the immediate signal level , 2nd on is a moving
5-second average (why you need >7 seconds alowoing for first and last
signals to be partials).

12:05:33, -60, -60.0
12:05:34, -49, -57.8
12:05:35, -48, -55.4
12:05:36, -49, -53.2
12:05:37, -48, -50.8
12:05:38, -49, -48.6
12:05:39, -50, -48.8
12:05:40, -49, -49.0
12:05:41, -49, -49.0
12:05:42, -50, -49.4
12:05:44, -50, -49.6
12:05:45, -49, -49.4
12:05:46, -60, -51.6
12:05:47, -60, -53.8
12:05:48, -60, -55.8
12:05:49, -60, -57.8
12:05:50, -60, -60.0

We'll take the highest reading which, in this case, was -48.6dB.

I also ran this test replacing the stock antenna (which is a Baofeng A-V85)
with a Harvest RH660S (which would be a stock modified competitor) and got
this result:
12:06:18, -60, -60.0
12:06:19, -21, -52.2
12:06:20, -27, -45.6
12:06:21, -25, -38.6
12:06:22, -25, -31.6
12:06:23, -26, -24.8
12:06:24, -26, -25.8
12:06:25, -27, -25.8
12:06:26, -25, -25.8
12:06:27, -27, -26.2
12:06:28, -27, -26.4
12:06:29, -28, -26.8
12:06:30, -60, -33.4
12:06:31, -60, -40.4
12:06:32, -60, -47.0
12:06:33, -60, -53.6
12:06:35, -60, -60.0

You can see the highest result here is -24.8dB or 23.8dB higher than the
A-V85 antenna.