I am going to cache this question under the guise of "Antenna Modeling" but, underneath is the relationship to take-off angle, distance and, power levels.
Is it possible to "Over-shoot" (use too many watts) to communicate with a station that is closer than one that is farther away?
Given: of the two mobile stations running the same power (w /identical transmitters) looking for a signal report, the station with the best antenna system (depending upon how far away the receiving station is) would get the better signal report.
Eleven meter "Facts and Fallacies" (they are hard to tell apart): The more watts to the antenna, the better your chance of being heard; counter argument, too many watts for a given distance (close) will be beat by less watts because the higher powered signal is over-shooting the target. Example, recorded audio from two locations one location is 40 miles away while, the other is 2000 miles away. On the long distance recording, the high powered station was heard loudest while, at the 40 mile point the lower powered station was declared the winner according to the audio tape.
The wildcard in this equation is antenna take-off angle and radiation pattern; I have had better luck with Top-Loaded antenna (mobile) than center or base loaded antenna.
Ideas?
BTW: If I can't get any answers here, do you think if I posed this exact same question "over there" in the tech section that I would get facts, figures or, fried first?
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