Ham Radio Adventures 15: Is the RBN a good way to compare amateur radio antennas?

The Reverse Beacon Network is a great tool that enables radio hams to get a quick signal report. But lots of people also use it to compare antennas. I wondered how accurate it is in this application. This video documents an experiment, using a portable ham radio antenna, to find out.



***UPDATE 3-Feb-2020*** someone has told me that the RBN may only spot people every 10 minutes on a single frequency. I will invesigate that!

NOTE: The purpose of this video is not to advocate testing antennas in this way. It is to do the type of test that is commonly done by radio amateurs but under more controlled conditions, in an effort so show any inherent weaknesses in this technique.

If you enjoyed this video please consider subscribing (and hitting the notifications option). It actually helps me to promote the videos. Future topics will include a mix of ham radio portable and more general (but related) subjects. I also have a range of SOTABEAMS and Radio Adventures merchandise that you might like to look at. It’s here:

SOTABEAMS stocks a wide range of items for the serious portable operator.

ham radio,hamradio,amateur radio,sotabeams,portable radio operating,ham radio antenna,hf antenna,portable antenna,hf radio antenna,portable ham radio antenna,summits on the air,random wire antenna,ham radio portable operation,ham radio outdoors,hf wire antenna,ham radio technology,principles of radio,portable radio,portable ham radio setup,ham radio testing,antenna testing,siganl reports,reverse beacon network,reverse beacon network ham radio,hf,radio,