[Amps] The genius of ham radio

[Fuqua, Bill L]

  It kind of reminds me of a teacher who wants to impress you of his knowledge rather than assist you in your education.
bill
wa4lav

________________________________________
From: greg greene [greg.greene74 at gmail.com]
Sent: Monday, January 12, 2015 4:23 PM
To: Fuqua, Bill L
Subject: Re: [Amps] The genius of ham radio

Bill, absolutely correct - especially about the ARRL Handbook, I got a copy of the 2015 one, it is not anything like the one I got in 1977 when I got my ticket, and I miss the construction articles from back then that went into the why of things as much as they did the mechanics of building something.  I think I learned far more by just building them than reading about them.

Thanks

73
Greg
VE7GPG

On Mon, Jan 12, 2015 at 11:13 AM, Fuqua, Bill L <wlfuqu00 at uky.edu<mailto:wlfuqu00 at uky.edu>> wrote:
 In regards to "theory is never 100%" I'd like to quote my high school electronics instructor Hugh J. Philips.
Sometimes a circuit does not work properly according to theory, in that case there is something missing from the
schematic. An example would be stray capacitance. There are many cases that it appears that theory does not
apply but it is that some piece of the puzzle is missing.
  Much of the basic electronics theory we know today was understood a century ago such as resonance, wave propagation
etc. I wonder how many know today why a tuned circuit is called a tank circuit.
   I even notice PHD's making gross errors regarding theory and history. I often hear that Einstein discovered the photoelectric
effect, when in fact it was discovered by Hertz before 1900.
   Now saying that, there are many things we don't understand about the universe and theory is constantly being revised, however,
little regarding what we do as amateur radio operators. Naturally, new devices are being invented but the basics have
been the same for many years.
  The key is to tinker, experiment, and apply theory and have the incentive to learn more. It is extremely important for young
students to tinker and experiment, that is what is missing these days. Students don't even think of a career until they get to
college much less have a passion for a particular field.
  You don't have to understand everything before you begin building stuff and experimenting. That is a problem today.
Just look at the new ARRL Handbook. It has become an engineering reference rather than an amateur radio reference.
Compare it to earlier ones. It would appear that the authors are trying to impress everyone of their knowledge rather
than aid the readers in their projects.  It lacks peer review. There are a number of errors as well. Sometimes they can't
even  plagiarize accurately. There is a schematic that is a copy from a Motorola data sheet, redrawn but has typo in value of
one of the components. It is off by a factor of 1000 thus the circuit will  not work at all. I don't know how far back this goes but
is in a number of previous handbooks.

73
Bill wa4lav
Oh yes, I am now a retired professional electrical engineer.
But I would not be if I did not start tinkering and building radios when I was very young. Got my Novice in elementary school and a 6 or 8 months
later General.

________________________________________
From: Amps [amps-bounces at contesting.com<mailto:amps-bounces at contesting.com>] on behalf of greg greene [greg.greene74 at gmail.com<mailto:greg.greene74 at gmail.com>]
Sent: Monday, January 12, 2015 11:36 AM
To: amps at contesting.com<mailto:amps at contesting.com>
Subject: [Amps] The genius of ham radio

As a youngster - learning electronics by working after school at the local
TV Repair shop, I often heard my mentor say - ' the difference between
theory and practice - is the difference between theory and practice'  what
he meant by that was that theory is the guide - practice is result, when
the two don't match - review both.  Theory is never 100% - that is why it
is theory - the more we observe the results of practice - the closer we get
to redefining the theory, and then the closer we get to refining the
practice.   We as hams enjoy the pursuit - or results - of both.

73
Greg
VE7GPG
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