[Amps] Fleamarkets

[Dr. David Kirkby]

Jim Thomson wrote:
> From: Dave White <mausoptik at 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