NOAAport is back to it's usual power. But there's something different
about the signal now. While my signal strength hasn't changed,
right at 30 dBm and 90% signal "strength" on my Novra S200...the broadcast
is "cleaner" by at least 2 dB. That is, the signal to noise (or carrier to
noise) ratio is considerably higher. This is further confirmed by Jose
Nieves in Puerto Rico, whose EbNo is now at an impressive 12.2, and
usually, it's around 7-8, and by Patrick'ss chart up in Minneapolis,
where he's getting a C/N of right around 14! NOAA requires that the EbNo
be above 6. Could there have been some long-standing issue that kept the
S:N ratio down until now, that got fixed in all this mess? I believe so.
I'm getting a Carrier to Noise of ~11.5, which is very good in very moist
conditions (I have drizzle and dense fog right now at my dish farm, and
the sounding profile is pretty moist for this time of year!).
Perhaps the most obvious example of the cleaner signal is the College of
DuPage. With their 3.0 meter dish, they usually struggle to get
reception...but they are still getting a VBER of zero after NOAA turned
the power down, with perfect reception, with dense fog and drizzle as I
type this at their dish farm.
http://wn.hamweather.net/relays.html
http://noaaport.admin.niu.edu:8025
http://www.opennoaaport.net:8025
*******************************************************************************
Gilbert Sebenste ********
(My opinions only!) ******
Staff Meteorologist, Northern Illinois University ****
E-mail: sebenste@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx ***
web: http://weather.admin.niu.edu **
*******************************************************************************
