[evlatests] Correction on sensitivity 'loss' in 8-bit path
Rick Perley
rperley at nrao.edu
Sun Aug 29 13:17:31 EDT 2010
I reported yesterday that there was a significant loss in
sensitivity at the bottom edge of the 1-GHz-wide IF when in 8-bit mode,
attributing this to the well-known ~5-db rolloff.
The loss of sensitivity is real, but my explanation/association is
almost certainly wrong.
A more detailed investigation, using UVHGM to plot the noise
histograms as a function of channel shows that the spectacular loss in
sensitivity is restricted to the bottom 10 channels *only* -- 20 MHz.
The well-known bandpass rolloff covers well over 100 MHz. Within that
span, the sensitivity is completely unchanged for at least 70 MHz --
over most of which which the spectral power density is attenuated by 5
dB or more.
I think it far more likely that the sensitivity loss at the very
edge is due to the the same issue which we've had all along with subband
1 at the lower edge, and is completely unrelated to the bandpass rolloff
effect.
Note that this problem of increased noise in the bottom edge of
subband 1 is not present with the 3-bit path.
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