k0ua
Epic Contributor
I understood it while reading it but could not explain it to anyone. Here is my math-idiot practical understanding: our cell phone reception is measured in negative dB. A great signal would be around -60 dB. No signal would be around -115. But, because it is logarithmic, an improvement from, say, -100 dB to -75 dB is a much greater improvement that 25%. Also, the longer the coax I use to set up my signal booster the greater the dB loss will be.
Oh, and I have booked a room at the Holiday Inn for tonight.
Yes, the longer the coax the more loss, BUT it possibly could be offset by getting your directional antenna up higher to capture more signal. As an example lets say that RG6 cable has a loss of 14db per hundred foot at 1.9ghz (calculator here)
That is a pretty significant loss, and lets say you are now using 50 foot so a 7db loss. But you decide to stick you antenna up another 50 foot higher in the air to get over a ridge blocking the signal. Although you lose another 7db in signal, perhaps the extra height go you over the ridge into line of sight with the tower and could easily gain another 30 db in signal by clearing the ridge. These are all just hypothetical scenarios of course. But it could work out that way.