Sorry, i was afraid i was not being clear.
Let me try to ask this in as simplified a way as i can.
Lets say i transmit a signal, and send it to a 3 dB equal phase splitter. The two outputs of the splitter are fed to two individual quarter wave stubs. The two stubs are rotated 90 degrees to each other...so that one is horizontal polarized, and one is vertical polarized.
If i then have a single quarter wave receiving stub....obviously if it is oriented horizontally, it picks up the transmitted power, minus the path loss, and minus 3 dB for the splitter loss.
If the receive antenna is oriented vertically, same deal....
But what if the receive antenna is oriented at a 45 degree angle to either of the two transmit antennas? will the received power be transmit power, minus path loss, minus 3db for splitter, minus another 3 db for not being oriented in line with either of the two transmit antennas, but PLUS the fact that i am recieving half of each polarization...which gives me back 3 dB?
I know a circular polarization transmit antenna will give me the path loss plus 3 dB loss for only receiving half of the transmitted power, but in the above diagram, is the path loss the same as a circular polarized transmit antenna? Or is there some sort of weight vector cancellation thing going on?
I guess what i am asking...should i go to the trouble of making an actual circular polarized antenna, or will a DUAL polarized transmit antenna work just as well?