On Sat, 21 Mar 2009 22:49:43 -0700, "Sal M. Onella"
wrote:

In my experience, the community seems to dictate the terminology. (If you
buy a big, long sandwich for lunch, is it a "hero," a "sub" or a "hoagie"?)

I would call it a "grinder."

More to the point, when selecting an LNA for C-band satellite, you will
almost always see the noise temperature in the specs. However, for Ku-band,
the LNA noise figure is usually spec'ed.

I've designed for low noise, but not for amateur applications. When I
did that design, I chose to work with something that appears to be
alien here, NEP or Noise Equivalent Power. I did this because every
circuit I know of has an input and output resistance and those were
intimately associated with Johnson noise (is this too ancient a term
even if many here are using his concept expressed by Nyquist's math?).
To this point no one seems even remotely interested in resistance (and
it would appear that the focus on a 4 or 5 degree K source of deep
space would be awash in resistor noise in an amp soaking in the
typical ambient of room temperature).

73's
Richard Clark, KB7QHC