back your post with mathematics

[K9FON]

I'm definetly NOT a appliance op!:) Heck, most of, if not all of my gear is old tubie equipment from 30 40 years ago. There's just something about a tube rig that a solid state rig can't compete with. Most of my gear is older than i am (age36)!!! If it has problems i can fix it. In fact, most of the gear has been worked on by me several times.

[WG7X]

Dan,

Thanks for your thoughtful reply.

Of course you are right. Non-technical folk need to be a bit more technical and the engineers among us need to moderate their "tech talk" so that the intended audience will get the correct info.

My post was probably an over-reaction to the message that prevails among some in this service.

That being: If you're not an engineer, then this is not the hobby for you. Which of course is baloney.

This elitist attitude has been around for decades and nothing we say or do here will change that. I just wanted to put in my two cents worth for some of the non-techies out there.

Personally, I'm somewhat in the middle, in that I'm not an engineer, but in my daily life I work with them and in fact have to work around the things that they have designed to make them work in the real world.

In our hobby I have done technical stuff, and I'm not strictly a "plug-and-play" type, although as I get older I find myself less tolerant of equipment that has to be babied or modified to make it work properly.

But, as I mentioned earlier, because I am not an engineer, not mathematically inclined, I cannot join the author in his enjoyment of the mathematical proof.

I read stuff written by engineers though, and I learn new things all the time. I thanks the engineers and scientists among us for the pioneering work.

Just don't insist that we all join in. In my relatively short career in Ham radio (23 years) I have met many hams, some all about the technical side, some not.

The non tech to tech  ratio is about 20/80 in my opinion. In other words two techie types out of every ten hams.

Maybe I'm associating with the wrong crowd, but it has been my experience that the 80% non tech folks are usually the more interesting types and they are usually more open and friendly.

Engineering geeks are usually not known for their people skills. Bless them, they relate better to transistors than people. That's certainly OK, and in fact probably necessary. The geeks among us make most if not all of the advances in most fields.

Celebrate the geeks, but just don't ask all of us to join them...

Now back to your regularly scheduled arguments!

73 Gary

[K5END]

K5END,

Since you quoted my reply, I will reply again to expand a bit.

Amateur radio is now and always been a technical service. If it was not then we would not exist.

My point was simply this: to be an Amateur radio operator, one does not necessarily have to be an electrical engineer.

In fact, possibly ham radio might look more to the "softer sciences" if we want to include more people in the hobby.

A hard focus on the science of radio is not necessary now. Yes, folks should have an interest in and a basic understanding to the technical aspects, but no to the level that the other thread was alluding to.

73 Gary

Gary, I can't argue with that.

73

[KE3WD]

I'm definetly NOT a appliance op!:) Heck, most of, if not all of my gear is old tubie equipment from 30 40 years ago. There's just something about a tube rig that a solid state rig can't compete with. Most of my gear is older than i am (age36)!!! If it has problems i can fix it. In fact, most of the gear has been worked on by me several times.

ALL of my gear is the latest solid state stuff. The FlexRadio inclusive.  Oldest rig right now is the IC-706.  If any of it needs repairing, I repair it. 

You are bragging about being at the forefront of 50 year old technology?

Now that you've gotten a handle on the thermionic valve you would do well to start delving into solid state electronics.