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Description
Approximately one-quarter (256 objects) of the Large Bright Quasar Survey (LBQS, Hewett et al., 1995, Cat. <J/AJ/109/1498>) has been observed with the VLA at 8.4GHz, resulting in 44 detections (17%) with a median 3{sigma} noise limit of 0.29mJy. Quasars with radio luminosity detectable at this limit are under-represented at faint absolute blue magnitudes (M_B_>=-24), an effect which cannot be explained by a potential LBQS selection bias against quasars which have large radio luminosities and small optical luminosities. The radio-loud (8GHz luminosity >10^25^W/Hz) fraction is observed to change as a function of redshift and MB, for M_B_<-24, although the causal variable is ambiguous. The description most consistent with the available data is that radio-loud fraction is approximately constant over the range -27.5<M_B_<-24 and increases at brighter absolute magnitudes. The radio-loud fraction as a function of redshift reaches a local maximum at z~1, and, aside from the effects of increased radio-loud fraction at bright M_B_, remains roughly constant to redshifts approaching 5. The log R_8.4_ distribution (radio-to-optical luminosity ratio) of the current LBQS sample may be bimodal, but the results of statistical tests are ambiguous, requiring a larger sample size to become definite.
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