Hi Rick

I personally have tried to give meaningful signal reports over the years
but given the tools I have my options are pretty limited. The only real
useful report for a remote station is to compare them to someone nearby
to where they are, then add and subtract some maths based on differences
in power and supposed antenna gain.

You can of course also make judgments based on other signals you hear on
the band. Not real accurate though.

Then you have the problem of allowing for antenna vs optimum take off
angles when it comes to making gain assertions. Where you hang an
antenna will never be the same environment as where the manufacturer
tested theirs..

My 1c

Bob VK2YQA

Rick wrote:
Sometimes on the HF bands you will hear a conversation that goes something
like this: