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S-meter and signal strength

For frequencies below 30 MHz, S9 is defined as a voltage of 50 μV over 50 Ω at the receiver antenna connector; for frequencies above 30 MHz, S9 is defined as a voltage of 5 μV over 50 Ω at the receiver antenna connector. This refers to an unmodulated carrier signal (N0N) that uses almost no bandwidth; in case of real signals using a given bandwidth, this definition may not be enough since a smaller receiver bandwidth allows a weaker minimum detectable signal, but S-points are still a good tool for comparing received signals.

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