diff --git a/GaussFIR.cpp b/GaussFIR.cpp
index 1d81aff..cc2c007 100644
--- a/GaussFIR.cpp
+++ b/GaussFIR.cpp
@@ -20,6 +20,27 @@ static inline double dnorm(double x, double mu, double sigma)
 }
 
 // Calculate length and FIR coefficients for a Gaussian shaped low pass filter.
+//
+// F2sig is the two-sigma width of the target Doppler POWER spectrum of the
+// fading process (the Watterson / ITU-R F.1487 "frequency spread" convention:
+// the tap-gain process must have a Gaussian power spectral density whose
+// 2-sigma width is the specified Doppler spread).
+//
+// NOTE for reimplementers: the power spectral density of filtered white noise
+// is |H(f)|^2, so this filter's AMPLITUDE response must be the SQUARE ROOT of
+// the target Gaussian PSD -- itself Gaussian-shaped, but sqrt(2) wider. That
+// is where the SQRT2 in the sigma expression below comes from:
+//
+//   impulse response   sigma_t = Fs*sqrt(2) / (2*pi*F2sig)   [samples]
+//   amplitude |H(f)|   Gaussian with sigma_f = F2sig/sqrt(2)
+//   power |H(f)|^2     Gaussian with sigma   = F2sig/2   (2-sigma = F2sig)
+//
+// Dropping the sqrt(2) -- i.e. treating the target power spectrum as the
+// amplitude response -- narrows the realized Doppler spread to ~0.71x the
+// specified value. This is a real reimplementation trap: the prose in the
+// original PathSim technical guide (section 4.1.5) describes "a Gaussian
+// shaped low pass filter" without calling out the square root, and at least
+// one downstream reimplementation inherited a narrowed spread that way.
 void GaussFIR::init(double Fs, double F2sig)
 {
 	double sigma   = (Fs * SQRT2) / (PI2 * F2sig);
diff --git a/GaussFIR.h b/GaussFIR.h
index d724b2f..b2eeb1f 100644
--- a/GaussFIR.h
+++ b/GaussFIR.h
@@ -1,4 +1,7 @@
-// Gaussian low pass filter
+// Gaussian low pass filter used to shape the Doppler (fading) spectrum.
+// Its amplitude response is the SQUARE ROOT of the target Gaussian power
+// spectrum (the sqrt(2) in the sigma constant) -- see the note above
+// GaussFIR::init() in GaussFIR.cpp before reusing this design elsewhere.
 
 #ifndef PATHSIM_GAUSS_FIR_HPP
 #define PATHSIM_GAUSS_FIR_HPP