Comparing noise level with WSPR

The noise floor at home is S9. Happily it's a broadband noise rather than the terrible switch mode power supply hash I had at one point. Inspired by Dallas, VK3EB, today I headed for the local park and threw a wire into one of the three largest trees there.

Like Dallas, I used a hand caster for the roll of wire and added a few sinkers to the end.

It was quite windy and after a few attempts I got the wire about 3m up into the tree - not great, but a start. Here's the portable setup:

The laptop is running Linux and is tethered to my phone for time synchronisation and spot upload. I have WSJT-X running at home and also ran in the park as VK3TPM/1 so I could compare Signal to Noise ratio. Here's home:

Here's the same period received at the park.

SNR is between 4dB and 11dB better in the park compared to home. Also one station, VK1DPB, was received at the park at -23 and not heard at home.

This is an encouraging start and I'm sure reception can be further improved in the park.