Yes, it is, the CC1190 on the ARF flips between Tx and Rx based on a signal received from the small SRF board on the ARF module. When in Rx is operates as a high gain receiver, when in Tx a power amp. If you add anything external to the ARF to try and boost things etc. it would also need to 'see' these control signals to be able to switch the amp on and off.
I've not seen that admission, but would not be surprised if production variances caused enough of a problem to explain some of the oddities.
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1) I'm not sure why one would need to switch the amplifier on and off. During Rx cycle there would be no TX signal at amplifier input as CC1190 has flipped away from TX mode, therefore no TX carrier.
Amplifier input correctly terminated, so presumably no transmission or spurious output to TX antenna.
2) worth looking at openmicros.org webpage concerning ARF/SRF. Looked it up when Lee pointed to it concerning PAW master slave RSSI tests. The transceivers can act in very odd ways, largely inhibited by Wirelessthings firmware update, but sometimes requiring re-flashing of memory by WT.