But the larger problem is where are new hams and budding engineers going
to SEE those components and learn to recognize them, My dad (chemical
engineer) helped me build radio receivers and other electronic stuff
on pieces of plywood etc, You can't blame new hams for only
recognizing parts on a schematic where are they going to SEE THE
PHYSICAL COMPONENTS!!.
When I was a senior in High School I helped commission a new FM Radio
station (WEVO) 50KW etc where are the opportunities for kids these days
to do stuff like that. I'm a technical mentor for the FIRST robotics
program and yes one of the kids on the team is a ham at 14 so there is
some dim ray of hope for the future.
I'm a lot less worried about 'no-code' than I am about 'no electronic
abilities' these days
73 - Scott N1JIN
david sutton wrote:
> All very true statments.
> You see it on the amateur radio groups all the time. most on this group will
> agree i'm sure, Just reading posts from some ham's makes my skine cringe.
> The comment Dave G0OIL made about Dayton and the vacume capacitors he was
> carying. unfortunatley nowa days you don't need to know what a risistor or
> Cap looks like you just got to be able to remember what the right answer is
> to the question.
> I to remember the time back in england, when you walked down the High street
> Tandy and Richards electric, all sold electronic part's, my local Richard
> electric's was owned by a Radio Ham G3VZR. he sold washing machine part's and
> Heathkit, kits and a ham's tresure trove of parts. The manger in Tandy was a
> ex-royal signles sg maj, Now today if you go into Radio shack, you will find
> youngsters capable of telling you how to send text on your cell phone, but
> not an idea as to what those things are in the grey draw racks at the back of
> the store are for or do.
> my 2 cent's
> Dave
>
> Brits with a southern call? how strange, only when you hear the accent.
> see kg4uxr on :-
> www.qrz.com/callsign/kg4uxr
>
>
>
>
> ________________________________
> From: Scott McGrath mcgrath@fas.harvard.edu
>
> Subject: Re: [Amps] Fleamarkets
>
> Unfortunately due to the loss of electronic manufacturing in the US,
> The majority of the technical population in the US has NEVER constructed
> an electronic device and parts sources are few and far between, I'm in
> my early forties and I can remember Radio Shack, Lafayette Radio and my
> town had Evans Radio and Stark Brothers electronics so you had parts and
> books by people like Forest Mims on building electronic gadgets.
>
> Popular Electroncs had articles on building a "TV Typewriter" now we
> have "How to hook up your Home Theater". Ah just another step towards
> a third world economy i.e. Import manufactured goods and Export raw
> materials and agricultural products.
>
>
>
> Dr. David Kirkby wrote:
>
>> Jim Thomson wrote:
>>
>>
>>> From: Dave White <mausoptik@btinternet.com>
>>> Subject: Re: [Amps] why did Heath die?
>>>
>>> What did surprise me was that when I bought a couple of large vacuum
>>> variable capacitors on the fleamarket at Dayton and was carrying them
>>> around and back to the car, I lost count of the number of guys with extra
>>> class callsign badges who asked me what they were. Is there a message in
>>> there somewhere?
>>>
>>> Dave G0OIL
>>>
>>> ## That is a sad state of affairs, to say the least.
>>>
>>>
>> I recall reading somewhere that in the RAE exam (or whatever it might be
>> called
>> now in the UK), X % of the candidates did not know how to wire a 13 A plug.
>> The
>> pass mark was Y %. I can't recall X or Y, but I know X was greater than Y.
>> It
>> stuck me as wrong, that the pass mark could be higher than the percentage of
>> people who know how to wire up a plug.
>>
>> An American ham once said to me that a typical project now in QST was:
>>
>> "How to Build a 12V 1A Power Supply with a 7812 Voltage Regulator"
>>
>> It is a sad state of affairs. I wonder if making the exam harder, so people
>> have
>> to do more work to get a ticket would help. Or would it just put more people
>> off, and be worst for the hobby.
>>
>> Dave
>>
>
>
>
>
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>
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