The Law of Diminishing Returns
      or
Why a Linear Amplifier is Not Worth the Trouble


Here are some facts to help you with the decision of whether or not you
should run an amplifier with your CB Radio. You can't argue with the math!


FACT: One "S" unit is approximately 6dB†.

FACT: Increasing your output power from 4 watts to 40 watts is a 10dB
increase
      ***You've only increased your signal by only 1.6 "S" units*.

FACT: Increasing your output power from 4 watts to 100 watts is a 14dB
increase
      ***You've only increased your signal by only 2.3 "S" units*.

FACT: Increasing your output power from 4 watts to 400 watts is a 20dB
increase
      ***You've only increased your signal by only 3.3 "S" units*.

FACT: Now you're now running 100 times the legal limit, amplifying all your
harmonics so that you create more TVI interference, adding significant
amounts of distortion to your signal and modulation (since most amps are not
very clean since they don't have to comply with FCC regulations) and
you've only got 3 "S" units to show for it! Not only that, the distortion the
amp adds to your signal can actually decrease your effective range as it
makes your communications harder to understand.

FACT: Adding antenna height and/or an antenna with more gain is more cost
effective and yields better communications range. Antennas do not and can not
add distortion to your signal, are legal to buy (and comparatively cheap),
can actually DECREASE TVI by raising it over the tops of area TV antennas
(less neighbor problems), and will result in cleaner, clearer communications
(which will increase communications range). (Talk about a WIN-WIN situation!)

FACT: If everyone followed this advice, the Citizen Band Radio frequencies
would be less noisy, thereby reducing the need to run higher power to "get
over the noise" and longer distance communications would result.

FACT: If the Citizen Band Radio frequencies could support reliable, longer
distance communications, more interesting and a wider variety of people would
use them, thereby increasing the enjoyment of the whole service.

Now few rational people would argue that having a cleaner, more enjoyable CB
Radio band to use is a step backwards. All it takes is a few die-hards to
stand up and operate properly to get the ball rolling. Be a role model for
the new (and old) operators.

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† For those of you who are going to say "My friend's radio say my signal goes
up 5 "S" units when I turn on my 400 watt amp", here's the reason... Not all
radios have meters that are calibrated nor are they linear (every "S" unit
= 6dB). This does not change the fact that your signal only marginally
increases in strength. A radio's meter is just a relative indicator of
strength. Compare this to your gas gauge in your car. One quarter of a tank
is not the same amount of fuel for all cars nor is it usually the same from
full to three-quarters as it is from one-quarter to empty on the same car.

* Here's the formula - dB=10 log (P1/P2) - try it for yourself