Q Don, W9DEW, asks, “I have owned an ICOM IC-720A and a Kenwood TS-450S for several years and have never really understood when to use the attenuator as opposed to simply turning the RF Gain control down. I think I understand the difference, but the result seems to be the same. Is there any real difference?”
A In a practical sense, there is no difference. However, at high levels of attenuation the RF gain control may be hard to set, so the fixed attenuator is easier to use. Under some circumstances you might even need both. When band noise and signals are both over S 9 with the RF gain up all the way, the attenuator will bring them down to where the RF gain can be used for “fine tuning” the level.
from QST May 2000
