My mistake: I just checked and it did download as a ZIP file and the same program, The Unarchiver, unzipped it for me.
My answer yesterday was from memory and remembering that The Unarchiver did the extraction, my memory was incorrect about it being an RAR file.
I'm pretty sure I ran the unzipped executable file, but I didn't get any errors when I did so. I also do have other Radioddity software installed within Wine, so that could account for the OCX libraries. I'm not sure if I have them or not, but as mentioned, I didn't get any errors running the DB25-G application. I can't read and write to a radio, though, so it's possible I'd get errors at those steps.
OK, while not trying to make this overly complicated, I will only mention these concepts and not the math behind them.
First off is that 3 dB of loss is meaningless when you start looking at the overall effect it has on the range of a radio system. Consider that a CB or ham radio with an S meter registered S-1 to S-9. The change of one S unit required the signal to change 6db. So if you were running 10 watts and were being heard with an S-8 you would need to increase your power to 40 watts to bring the meter up to S-9. And what did that really do to the overall signal quality? Not much.
Here's the thing NO ONE ever brings up and involves the most math. Path loss. Path loss is the signal level loss though free space between the transmitting and receiving antenna's. And it's going to be over 100 dB. And this it where people fall flat with the idea of cable loss and antenna height. Path loss can indeed be calculated and the attenuation levels changes depending on the medium. The other this that no one takes into account is horizon. UHF signals do NOT bend in the atmosphere. They radiate in a straight line away from the antenna and once they reach the horizon they keep going straight. No amount of power increase will change this but a height increase in the antenna does. The other thing that the height increase changes is the medium that the signal is required to pass through. Meaning if your antenna is 5 feet off the ground, the signal coming from it has to radiate through trees, houses, buildings, and the minute it hits a hill it's done going that way. All of these objects attenuate the signal of block it completely. A typical building is going to be over 30dB of attenuation. So if the building is 90 feet tall, and to get over it requires a 3 dB loss of signal to radiate past it, then you loose the 3 dB in the cable to make up for the 30 dB loss trying to pass the signal through the building.
Yes, you can over so it and place an antenna too high in the air. But unless you have a 1000 foot tower this is a topic NOT worth discussing.
