Charles,
What you have just defined would mean the end of ham radio.
When SSB was still in the cradle, almost everyone operating that mode had a
monitor scope to help tune his signal.
The old ARRL SSB Manual was my bible.
Now very few people have a scope and even fewer would know how to use it.
You don't have to have a scope to tune an amp, but you have to know what you
are looking at.
Most people probably don't even know the difference between grid current and
plate current.
They just tune for maximum smoke. And often, that's exactly what they get.
Then they blame the manufacturer.
I suspect many hams who work multi-multi contests have done similar to what
my club has done - made lists of rigs which are forbidden to be used on site
because they generate too much broadband noise and disturb all the other
stations. The list of culprits is longer than the list of good radios. And
some of the owners of brand new (but lousy) radios have gone home crying in
disappointment.
YET WE CONTINUE TO LET THE MANUFACTURERS GET AWAY WITH THIS!
My group first performed that test in 1990.
23 years later, if anything, the TX quality has gotten worse, not better,
yet the number of people owning an amplifier has probably quadrupled!
I don't deny that we have lots of LIDS in our ranks.
But we have a HUGE TX problem and every time someone brings the technical
topic up, an avalanche of emails reply, blaming the LIDS.
I'm sure the OEMs are just sitting back, drinking a cold one and patting
themselves on the back when they see that.
Instead they should be seeing hundreds of emails from unsatisfied customers.
Nothing will ever change until we start collectively pushing the issue.
Blaming it on the LIDS and leaving it at that, is not helping to solve the
problem.
73
Rick, DJ0IP
-----Original Message-----
From: TenTec [mailto:tentec-bounces@contesting.com] On Behalf Of Charles P.
Steinmetz
Sent: Monday, June 17, 2013 9:15 AM
To: Discussion of Ten-Tec Equipment
Subject: Re: [TenTec] RF Speech Processor "TX IMD"
Rick wrote:
>Guys, I maintain there are a lot less lids and a lot more bad radios
>then you think!
Any ham who takes for granted what his or her radio is doing, without
measuring it him- or herself and correcting it as necessary, IS a lid. And
yes, unfortunately, I know that I have just described 85% of all US hams. I
would much prefer that those 85% had never been licensed, or had been
required to learn and demonstrate genuine technical proficiency to become
licensed (I don't care a whit about whether they know code).
IMO, we should get rid of the whole VE structure and go back to examinations
by an FCC field engineer at an FCC field office using tests that have not
been made public. Ideally, including some hands-on operation and
troubleshooting. Putting testing in the hands of people who have an
interest in how many new hams there are is the worst possible way to run
things. Having a limited number of publicly-available test questions is a
deplorable farce.
Best regards,
Charles
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