Recent content by Dave9600

Take any whole number and add the digits down to a single number. Now, subtract this number from the original number. With this answer add the digits down to a single number and it will always end up being 9. Example: 22 (2+2=4) 22-4=18 (1+8=9) or 14567 (1+4+5+6+7=23 and...

But a straight path implies direction towards something. What is the photon traveling towards? Or, what is causing photons to move in a straight path?

But the other point... what is the photon traveling towards and why?

But what is the other point?

The shortest path to what?

Sorry. = ) How can photons have a rest mass if they are moving at the speed of light the instant they are created?

Has this been measured, or is this an assumption based on SR?

No mass... nothing to suck in. That's a good point.

Okay... I guess I don't understand how something can be created / destroyed without acceleration / deceleration. Are you saying that photons are moving at C the instant they are created, and instantly decelerate to C=0 when destroyed?

SR says that as an object reaches the speed of light its mass approaches infinity. How can light reach the speed of light without having an infinite mass?

Okay, I'm going to add to this... Let's say I have an antenna that the manufacturer states has a vertical beamwidth of 30 degrees. Isn't the vertical beamwidth going to change depending on the amount of power applied to the antenna? Or am I misunderstanding antenna propagation patterns? Maybe...

Thanks. It makes perfect sense now. I have a problem thinking backwards sometimes.

No, it's always made sense to me that an antenna "creates" TX gain by conserving energy. It's never made sense to me how an antenna "creates" RX gain. Okay, so the same physical properties of the antenna that conserve energy (directors, reflectors, etc.), thereby creating TX gain, also...

Okay, so what you're saying is that I would now be able to receive a signal which is -83dB where before I could only receive a signal of -80db because the antenna is "creating" 3dB of signal? I don't mean to sound ignorant. Thanks for your patience.

Thanks. I guess what I'm really asking is how does gain increase the distance at which you can receive, loss being what it is in free space? As an example: -80dB is -80dB at the antenna whether you're receiving on an omni-directional antenna or a high-gain Yagi. If there is enough signal to...