Gooch’s Paradox

I’m pretty sure that I first heard of Gooch’s Paradox in a QST article by David Newkirk. (David now has his father’s old callsign, W9BRD. His father, Rod, wrote the How’s DX column in QST for 31 years.) Or it might have been a QST article by Rich Arland, K7SZ (SK). Rich wrote the QRP Power column for QST in addition to many other articles.* In the article the paradox was stated in the following form: “RF gotta go somewhere.” I think this is something we need to keep in mind, especially when working with low power and compromise antennas. I can’t tell you how many times I’ve been running pedestrian mobile out in some remote location and been told something like, “Ten watts to a four foot whip? Wow, you’re doing great!”.

You can find several different expressions for Gooch’s Paradox, one of which is “Things must be believed to be seen.” I think this is just another way of expressing what I have for many years called the “Ruby Slippers Effect” as it applies to QRP operating, viz. “If you believe you can make contacts, then you will.”

*Nope, it was definitely David Newkirk. I was able to confirm this recently (June 28, 2023) when I was looking through my copy of Stealth Amateur Radio by Kirk Kleinschmidt, NT0Z. In Chapter 4 of the book Kirk mentions first hearing this from David. (Interesting to note, there is a picture of Wayne Burdick, N6KR, on the cover of the book.)