The best receiver is… your antenna!

This an old saying which goes back to the earliest days of radio communications. Nowadays we say: the best receiver is a quiet location, far away from man made noise, transmission lines, solar inverters, high voltage cow fences, transmitting towers, routers, garage remotes, neon lights, Christmas decoration… and the never-ending list goes on.

Again, today’s ‘daily dose of ham radio’ is purely empirical observation. Couple of points:

1. Luckily the noise floor is not of the same level over the entire spectrum. Some bands are simply better than others. If the sample is large enough the pattern will emerge. For example, while I use a vertical antenna on all HF bands, my “best band” is 17m. The noise floor is so low that often I have to double check if the antenna is even connected! Needless to say, I’ve worked my best (most difficult) DX on 17m.

2. Thanks to a still unidentified noise source, the four band vertical (20, 17, 15 and 10m) hears rather poorly on 10m and to a degree, on 15m band. Yes, verticals are rather average receiving antennas, but in my case the difference between reception on  17m and 10m  is massive. Of course, your mileage may vary- and who knows, 10m could actually be your best band. Or not. Solution: using a 160m inverted L as a receiving antenna on 10m. “This is just ridiculous” – you say. Well, after thousands of contacts on FT8 and hundreds of A/B tests, that wire up high in the sky beats the vertical by 5-7 dB on receiving.

3. Most amateurs who live in urban areas suffer heavily from the local noise. To the point that hearing even the strongest signals could be a challenge. An ever present dilema: “If I upgrade from IC-7300 to the three times more expensive IC-7610, would I hear better?” The answer is unfortunately no you won’t. You can even invest $20k into IC-7851 and you will still struggle to see any improvement.

Solution: go portable or setup a remote station in the country. Or move to Pitcairn Island!

There is a great story about an elderly European listener who for years struggled to log some rare DX on AM band. After trying number of different locations, he finally landed on Easter Island, 3600 km west of Chile, armed with kilometres of wire, a car battery and a receiver. For just a few nights, he logged many hundreds of AM stations from all continents so loud that they were literally bending the needle.

4. SDR receivers and weak signal modes like WSPR would help you learn a lot about your receiving location, differences between various antennas, you local noise floor, propagation and band openings. Compare your reception reports with stations near you – and you will be amazed how well some people can hear! Listening is an art form, a hobby within a hobby. Being able to hear is far more important than being loud.

This morning, at my sunrise, I was on 80m FT8. There were a number of callers, amongst many, two Italian stations. One was stronger than the other by 15dB! Yet it was the weaker one that made it into my log – he heard me on the first call, while the other couldn’t complete the QSO after dozens of attempts.

Hearing well is immensely satisfying!

All am saying is this: The local noise is the most predominant factor in the receiving chain. Buying a more expensive radio or even installing a ‘bigger antenna’ is no guarantee that you will work more DX or hear better.