People forget that reception and transmission performance is the entire chain end to end.you get gain from some elements and loss from the other. the arguments start once you try to balance cost with success! 3dB to 6dB at the antenna might cost one figure, and 3dB in the cable another. Both is best, but at what price. The price part also links to performance. The question is what do you want. For my business, VHF marine is most important, but distance is not. My building has two floors and a roof above me. My antennas are on a ground mounted pole and the top antenna is 3m above ground. I get coverage east to around one mile offshore, and about half a mile north and south. West is zero due to the building. This is for me fine. My UHF repeater is on my home north and it’s slightly noisy but fine, and my local ham repeaters are half a mile due east so they’re great. To get my antennas able to look west means a tower and groundwork’s that would cost at least two grand. Pointless. If you need maximum system gain the the antenna and the cable need sorting. A good antenna and lossy cable could be fixed. It’s just money. My situation is lots of money so I’m not doing it. Could you live with that extra 3dB loss? Probably.
