Now this is where my signal was being picked up by skimmers. Basically, computers that can detect signals, even those beneath the noise floor, that other ops might not be able to hear.
This is a map of my QSOs made with K2DSL's QSO Mapper:
A wee bit different, wouldn't you say? I did not work any stations as far as Arizona or Western Canada. But I did work a few stations where the skimmers did not pick me up.
Moral of the story - RBN is a good guide, but it's not gospel. Just because you're being picked up by a skimmer doesn't necessarily mean that a pair of human ears at the same location would be able to pick you out of the noise. As they say on TV, "It's for entertainment purposes only."
Rule of thumb that I picked up from Joe N2CX. If you're going to go by what you see on RBN, pay attention to the s/nr levels. If it's double digit dB numbers, a good receiver and a good set of ears should be able to pick you out of the mud.
That all being said - that's for QSOs between humans. If you're working the digital modes, or just testing out a new antenna to see how it gets out, you'd have to interpret the RBN results a little differently. In those cases, what you see is probably what you're going to get, especially with FT8 and the like.
72 de Larry W2LJ
QRP - When you care to send the very least!
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