I wholly and completely disagree.
1. S Meter standardization is a failed effort. S meters are "marketing"
numbers. dBuV or dBmW is the measure to use. If you are filing
interference reports with the FCC and cannot figure out how to convert
your signal strength readings to dB relative units, you need to make
better measurements.
2. If Elecraft chooses to allow end-users to calibrate and set their S
Meter readings to have a known intercept (50uV at S9) and slope (4dB,
6dB, 3dB), so much the better, as it helps number one.
3. And, although I would not hold MSFT responsible for pushing forward
UI design, I certainly don't think they offer the best options in terms
of user configurability!
Leigh/WA5ZNU
On Thu, 7 Jun 2007 9:36 am, Brian Lloyd wrote:
On Jun 7, 2007, at 6:24 AM, Toby Deinhardt wrote:
It is beyond me how regulators can take interference reports based on
s-meter values seriously. The s-meter is for many amateurs around the
world, the only way they have of selectively measuring low level
signals. One can not expect an affordable s-meter to be accurate to a
tenth of a dB but plus/minus one or two dBs ought to be possible.
I agree 100%.
I like the idea that by referencing a fixed standard, i.e. S9 = 50uV
into 50ohms, and then with a fixed slope after that, i.e. 6dB/S-unit,
I can get an actual calculation of path loss by knowing the rest of
the kit, e.g. line loss, antenna gain, transmit power, etc. That is
really useful! Randomly changing S-meter behavior because it "looks
good" or "sounds good" seems pretty darned counter-productive to me.
As a minimum, if someone makes a 10dB change in their signal, I should
see a 10dB change on my meter. I just roll my eyes when someone kicks
on their amplifier and I see a 3 S-unit change. Oh please!
So this gets back to a discussion of user interface. Microsoft has
convinced us that being able to change things is somehow useful and
desirable when, in fact, all it really does is cause confusion and
support problems. Almost nothing is more frustrating than finding that
the person you are trying to help has "customized" their system beyond
recognition and nothing you tell them is really going to help them get
it to work.
Sorry Wayne, but being able to change the S-meter slope and intercept
strikes me as being a bad option. To me that is like changing the
calibration of a voltmeter or wattmeter because you like the needle
pointer to move differently.
73 de Brian, WB6RQN
Brian Lloyd - brian HYPHEN wb6rqn AT lloyd DOT com
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