So you've never given anyone 5/1 on SSB on a quiet band, Richard? That's
possible on 10m on a good day. What you're describing seems to me to be
the R value, not the S value. You may have noticed me giving reports of
469 or 479 on 160m when propagation is good but I have a high noise level.
When I started in ham radio 60 years ago, S meters were just a tuning aid. I
don’t think in all my experience that I have ever given a signal report based
on an S meter reading, in fact I didn’t even realise that my current rig even
had one. My reports are always based on a comparison between
