pcstel,
Bear with me, I like to see people use these units correctly.
Measurements in dBm are absolute measurements, relative to 1 milliwatt.
Measurements in dB are relative measurements, to some other measurements.
-100 dBm or -103 dBm are both pretty reasonable power levels for solid reception.
The difference is 3 dB, indeed 1/2 power.
3 dBm means 2 milliwatts.
The major issue is; could mobile units work? The performance limiting factor is the difference from the noise floor to the signal. With only a single site there is no interference from other sites which is usually a limitation for CDMA systems. So, yes, mobile units would probably work with the NextWave base stations.
Having spent years in RF propagation measurements, variations of 3 dB in power are pretty small, there are usually deep fades of 20 dB as you move around.
NextWave is probably just firing up the boomers to keep the licenses. Based on their lack of effort to get customers, but, I am impressed with the concept, light up with big sites, then infill as loading increases. Much easier to do with no frequency mapping required. |
