[CQ-Contest] CQ-Contest] Impressive demonstration of one dB of signal strength improvement

[Jim Brown]

On 8/22/2019 11:55 AM, john at kk9a.com wrote:
> Many years ago, Clarke Greene, K1JX, casually mentioned that he had
> determined adding 1dB to your signal strength would result in a 6% increase
> in your contest score (mostly applied to DX contests). I filed that away
> for future reference.

The origin of this may be N6ZFO, who published an equivalent number for 
the difference between LP and HP in SS. Bill worked as a statistician, 
and his number came from statistical analysis of SS scores. I don't know 
when he first published it, but I saw if for the first time after moving 
to CA and joining NCCC in 2006 -- it was part of our strategy piece for 
SS. Doing the math, I think I remember that Bill's number translated to 
6% for one dB, and I published that in an applications note about 
antennas, probably about 8-10 years ago.

There are several antenna applications notes on my website that NCJ 
wanted to publish, but ARRL decided that there were too many graphics, 
and deleting them would have destroyed the paper. One answers the 
question, "If could put my HF vertical on my roof, should I" (the answer 
is yes). Another studies the effect of height on horizontally polarized 
antennas, and produces a graph of gain vs height for 40M and 80M. It 
also destroys the myth that antennas have to be low for NVIS. Rather, I 
prove that low antennas are WORSE for NVIS. And it shows that, in 
general, vertically polarized antennas are strongly affected by ground 
quality, while the only effect of ground quality on horizontally 
polarized antennas is to influence their feedpoint impedance.

The website is k9yc.com/publish.htm

73, Jim K9YC