[CQ-Contest] How much is a dB worth ?

[Steve London]

This subject has recently come up on the Topband reflector.

I look at this from the question: "How much is a dB worth to my score in 
a DX contest ?"

Information about N1UR's contest performance presents a possible way to 
answer this question. For years, Ed operated SOAB low power. He recently 
changed to high power. Ed is an excellent operator. I believe he is 
getting the most out of his station and skills, whether operating low or 
high power. You can't look at his absolute change in score, because 
conditions are so different from year-to-year. However, you can compare 
his score each year as a percentage of the top high power USA score that 
same year.

I'm no statistician, but did some back-of-the-envelope calculations. I 
came up with something in the range of 2.7% to 3.0% increase in score 
per dB. I'll leave it to smarter people to refine my calculations.

73,
Steve, N2IC