True at UHF/VHF. The world if HF is quite a different place for most of us.
If your purpose is to find that sweet second or two where a very brief exchange might be confirmed on HF, a difference of a few dB might count, as Pete notes. But for communications involving a lengthy exchange of information such as in a rag chew, typical QSB on HF means one must have a lot more than a dB or two of "headroom" above the minimum readable signal to be successful in most situations. I'm one of the great many Hams who is not a contester nor do I focus on brief 5NN exchanges with a DX station, so I never expect anything less than a 6 dB change - an S-unit - to be noticeable *over time* on HF. I start getting really interested if I find the opportunity to make a 10 dB difference. That said, many places where one might throw away a dB or so adds up. It's the difference between managing your station's system gain (or loss) 'budget' and deciding whether any single change is worth making. 73, Ron AC7AC -----Original Message----- There's a saying among VHF / UHF'ers in reference to coax and connector losses that every .5db counts. 73! Ken - K0PP ______________________________________________________________ Elecraft mailing list Home: http://mailman.qth.net/mailman/listinfo/elecraft Help: http://mailman.qth.net/mmfaq.htm Post: mailto:Elecraft@mailman.qth.net This list hosted by: http://www.qsl.net Please help support this email list: http://www.qsl.net/donate.html