Message text written by INTERNET:kz5qdx@communique.net
>how about the fellow going from 100 to 120 or 1000 to 1100? Plenty of
them around.<
In the context of weak-signal VHF/UHF work where even fractions of a dB
here and there can add up to something worth having, there might well be a
case for chasing a 0.79dB improvement -- but only if the rest of the
station is going to be engineered in such a way as to make it worthwhile.
As far as everyday HF operation is concerned, station performance is almost
always interference-limited rather than noise-limited. So it's difficult to
believe that improvements amounting to much under 6-10dB are worth the
effort. However, quite how one might go about proving this experimentally
with any degree of rigour isn't clear.
The only other issue might be a psychological one. Having gone from 100W to
120W output, you might believe that your station is working better even if
your grounds for doing so are specious. So you might unconsciously operate
it in such a way as to make it perform more successfully. Flushed with
success at having got through the pile-up, you might then ascribe your
prowess to the 0.8dB improvement even if in practice that's unlikely to be
responsible. In terms of human behaviour, this is an example of what's
known to the social psychologist as the "availability error".
John Nelson
GW4FRX
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