Signal Reports - WARC Web Site

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Signal Reports

Signal reports are a standard protocol for reporting signal strength and readability. Generally, each station will inform the other of their signal report. A signal report comprises two numbers, the first being readability, the second being signal strength.

Readability is a subjective measure and rates the readability on a scale of one to five. The agreed protocol for readability is described below:
  1. Unreadable
  2. Barely readable, occasional words distinguishable
  3. Readable with considerable difficulty
  4. Readable with practically no difficulty
  5. Perfectly readable

The signal strength is read from your radio’s signal meter, commonly referred to as an S-Meter. This number will be between one and nine. (There is no such thing as a signal strength of zero)
Above S-9 meters have a decibel scale indicating the number of decibels over S-9.

When on air and providing signal reports you will need to apply a level of subjectivity, and over time you will become proficient at determining how to best provide the other station with a meaningful signal report.

A weak station which is perfectly readable might get a signal report:
“you are five and two. Five, two, over” A strong station suffering a some interference with some difficulty might get: “you are three and nine. Three, nine, thirty-nine. Over”

Operators will also want to know how their audio sounds:
“you are five and seven and your audio sounds great” or “you are four and seven and your audio sounds distorted”.

If a station has bad audio you should do your best to describe what you are hearing, even if you cannot offer a solution.


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