This transmitter is able to communicate over unbelievable distances. It can transmit on multiple bands (S and X). On S band it regularly communicates with the Voyager space probes almost 20 billion kilometers from Earth.

The receiver can pick up a signal unimaginably small. It can receive a signal of about 10 attowatts (10^-18 watts) or -160dBm. And by adding signals received by nearby antennas (DSS35 and DSS36) even smaller signals can be decoded.

You might be able to catch DSS43 in action by visiting the NASA Deep Space Network monitoring site.

NASA DSN Now (nasa.gov)