The antenna noise temperature T_{A} gives the noise power seen at the output of the antenna. The composite noise temperature of the receiver and transmission line losses T_{E} represents the noise contribution of the rest of the receiver system. It is calculated as the effective noise that would be present at the antenna input terminals if the receiver system were perfect and created no noise. In other words, it is a cascaded system of amplifiers and losses where the internal noise temperatures are referred to the antenna input terminals. Thus, the summation of these two noise temperatures represents the noise input to a "perfect" receiver system.
