John Smith wrote:
However, when I ran rigs with NO s-meter, my ear served well enough ...

Indeed, the 1-9 Signal Strength system was in operation
before S-meters were in standard use, dating back to the
very early 20th century. The "x dB over S9" came later.

Even when I got my first ham license in the early 50's,
the RF gain control used for CW rendered the S-meter
reading invalid.
--
73, Cecil http://www.w5dxp.com
"According to the general theory of relativity,
space without ether is unthinkable." Albert Einstein