NEC-LIST: Antenna Gain

Dear George,

I speak as an engineer working in broadcast.

1. Gain should be the power gain of the antenna itself. Mismatch loss
is a controllable variable (I can match, or not match an antenna as
the situation requires). If I need to know the mismatch loss of a
given antenna, I can look up the manufacturer's specs. If in doubt, I
can use a network analyzer to get the information directly.

2. Much like like mismatch loss, polarization loss is a controllable
variable. And like mismatch loss, I can always use specs or direct
measurement to analyze a given antenna system.

3. Most definitely, any difference in defining gain between reception
and transmission for the same antenna will lead to confusion (and
lousy Physics!).

General comment: All losses and gains in a link budget should be
reported individually. To do otherwise makes it impossible to 'tweak'
a system intelligently. I personally prefer matched gain figures,
broadcast antenna manufacturers supply gain figures that assume
complex conjugately matched antennas, and frankly I think any lumping
together of different aspects of gain/matching/loss amounts to a
'dumbing down' of system design. What's the next proposal: lumping
free-space path loss together with Fresnel zone loss to save
additional entries in link budgets?

Sincerely,

-- 
Hal Smith, MS Physics
Member, IEEE
AM/FM Services Company
Edmond, OK 
405-359-1100