Yes, I agree. I think think the natural alternative to "if" is simply the negative, or opposite, which is why it's used in conditional sentences and why you don't need to state it, e.g "Do you know if he's coming tomorrow?" directly implies the opposite, "or not coming tomorrow" but using "whether" simply introduces 2 choices, which could be anything e.g "Do you know whether he's coming tomorrow or......... she's coming tomorrow/he's coming on Friday/he's not coming at all?" The alternative is completely open.