[RFI] Re: Final Re about bullcrap smell tests :)

[Tom Rauch]

> Tom,
> I think what you mean is If I'm not going to agree with
the common
> assumptions I shouldn't tell people about my experience.

No. Not at all.

It means if your "experience" defies common readily
available science, you better look again at what you think
you saw.

I deal with similar engineering problems all day, and have
for 30 years or more. Whenever I see someone make a
statement or statements that fly in the face of other very
reliable sources in COMBINATION with good reliable science,
it tells me the person standing alone is doing or has done
something wrong.

I'm certainly not one to fall into the trap of being a "yes
man". I've bebunked my fair share of serious technical gaffs
and misstatements by the ARRL staff and other places, but
everything everyone else is saying makes sense while your
claims make no sense at all.

All I'm suggesting is you figure out what happened that your
claims are so far apart from the real world before passing
them along as fact.

> I think people shouldn't ask questions if they are only
going to agree with
> the answer they want to hear. Some people talk to
themselves so they get the
> answer they want.

...and sometimes we convince ourselves we are so good and so
smart we walk straight into a tar pit.

When it is dozens of independent people reacing the same
conclusion, and when all the science back to the 1800's
agrees, it might be time to consider you might actually be
wrong.

 > Further more, those who gain knowledge via resources
other than experience
> may learn that "Misinformation does far more harm than we
ever might
> imagine".
> I'll keep giving talks and those that don't want to hear
about my experience
> can stay home.

I guess drawing a crowd is more important than being sure
you are accurate.

> My most recent presentation had an attendance of 40+
people. I've received
> 16 emails from attendees that appreciated my time and
possibly the content.
> I handed out 75 business cards to close to half as many
people. It's obvious
> to me there is a difference of opinion and I welcome them.

I don't see anything in that statement that tells me
anything about your skill level at doing your job, or how
you measured BPL and why you are right and the rest of the
world wrong.

If you want to amateur radio and communications system
overall a service, you should figure out why intentionally
injected RF  sources won't radiate from power lines but why
unintentional sources will follow them for miles while
radiating. It also would be a good service to everyone if
you can explain why transmission line theory and radiation
theory that works with everything else in the world quits
working with BPL.

73 Tom