> There are three things certain in life...........
>
> Death (Even that's not quite so sure with modern medicine)
>
> Taxes
>
> And the fact that the parasitic debate will never end, only occasionally
be
> suppressed (sic!) for a time.
Despite all the mud-slinging, these discussions always made me re-think
common notions concerning amplifier design and I oftentimes carry away
something of value that I can research on my own or believe at face-value if
justified by facts.
The current parasitic debate is reminiscent of events that took place in the
early 1920s between M.B. West, 8AEZ, and Ellery Stone, an engineer for AP-
Moorhead tubes. This "Grate Debate" in 1921 centered around the effect of
power-factor and resonance conditions in damped (Spark) and undamped (CW)
transmissions. The debate ensued for the better part of the early '20s and
quite honestly, I don't know that a consensus was ever reached, even with
the assistance of the National Bureau Standards. See the September, 1921
issue of QST for details. After reading a chronicle of the debate between
these two men at the 1st ARRL Convention in Chicago (complete with
mud-slinging), you could easily substitute the calls W8JI and AG6K for the
gentlemen mentioned above. Too bad they didn't have the AMPS reflector
back then to air out all their laundry.
-Paul, W9AC
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