Template:Did you know nominations/Slotted line

The following discussion is an archived discussion of the DYK nomination of the article below. Please do not modify this page. Subsequent comments should be made on the appropriate discussion page (such as this nomination's talk page, the article's talk page or Wikipedia talk:Did you know), unless there is consensus to re-open the discussion at this page. No further edits should be made to this page.

The result was: promoted by Ashwin147 (talk) 17:52, 3 June 2013 (UTC)

Slotted line

(

)

... that a slotted line for microwave measurement can be made for under $10, 40 decibels cheaper than a network analyzer?

Reviewed: Neanderthals of Gibraltar

Created by Spinningspark (talk). Self nominated at 01:01, 6 May 2013 (UTC).

Date and length good. Lots of offline book sources. Hook is confusing. Slotted_line#Notes says it's a Thomas H. Lee quote. 40 decibels = 10,000, so $100,000? CallawayRox (talk) 19:48, 8 May 2013 (UTC) new reviewer

Hook is confusing, that's what makes it hooky! Yes, he does mean $100,000. Spinning Spark 00:11, 9 May 2013 (UTC)

Needs a review. — Crisco 1492 (talk) 01:06, 27 May 2013 (UTC)

The hook doesn't work for me. The article doesn't present the $10 cost as fact. Rather, this is presented only in a footnote and only as what one author claims. Furthermore, the source (published in 2004, which means prices aren't current) indicates that the materials for a slotted line should cost $10 or less (that price neglects the cost of the labor to make it). Additionally, I find the assertion about a "40 dB" cost reduction to be excessively obscure -- particularly because the article footnote doesn't explain that this remark refers to a four-orders-of-magnitude cost reduction (also because the footnote refers me to two different passages in the book, and this obscure remark is found in only one of them).

It shouldn't be necessary to use the obscure reference to 40 dB to make this hook interesting. Revise the article so that its text (ot just a footnote) provides some substantive information about the relative costs of the two devices, then revise the hook to say something like this:

ALT1: ... that a slotted line for microwave measurement can be made for roughly one ten-thousandth of the cost of a network analyzer? --Orlady (talk) 01:01, 2 June 2013 (UTC)

I can go for that. I thought the 40dB hook was quite amusing, but perhaps it only works for engineers. Article amended appropriately. Spinning Spark 05:35, 2 June 2013 (UTC)

Seems acceptable now. However, I'd prefer it if the fact were in the article text, not just the footnote. Whoever considers promoting this hook should see what they think before promoting it. --Orlady (talk) 19:57, 2 June 2013 (UTC)