Sadly it goes beyond HAMs/Electronics etc
I worked in both hardware and software from my days as an engineer at the
old
Tektronix
Recently aI co-working got is BS in Computer Science a few months ago. I
needed a simple
text filter using Perl. He could not do it. It took about 10 lines of Perl.
I have a small (well not so small) lab in my basement. A friend of a friend
who got his
BS in EE about 3 yrs ago was given a 60's transistor radio, I had him bring
it by. It first
needed a couple new electrolytics, hadn't a clue how to go about how to
desolder
them. The fun began when I turned on a sig generator and the SA to align the
thing
he just didn't know what to do. And was in a daze when I did it w/o even a
schematic
I mumbled something about 'it is just a simple 6 transistor AM radio' BTW he
will has is
MS in a year.
A couple years ago a HAM has a intermittent in some super duper Yaesu HF
rig,
cost him thousands. He was scared to take the cover of. Found a loose
connector
in less time then it took to get that cover off, sent him home in less then
an hour.
BTW he had a Extra License.
I could go on for hours ...
-pete sad again
PS And dont get me going about why do Hams use MS Windows instead of
Open Source ..
- Show quoted text -
On Tue, Feb 2, 2010 at 8:14 AM, Scott McGrath <mcgrath@fas.harvard.edu>wrote:
> But the larger problem is where are new hams and budding engineers going
> to SEE those components and learn to recognize them, My dad (chemical
> engineer) helped me build radio receivers and other electronic stuff
> on pieces of plywood etc, You can't blame new hams for only
> recognizing parts on a schematic where are they going to SEE THE
> PHYSICAL COMPONENTS!!.
>
> When I was a senior in High School I helped commission a new FM Radio
> station (WEVO) 50KW etc where are the opportunities for kids these days
> to do stuff like that. I'm a technical mentor for the FIRST robotics
> program and yes one of the kids on the team is a ham at 14 so there is
> some dim ray of hope for the future.
>
> I'm a lot less worried about 'no-code' than I am about 'no electronic
> abilities' these days
>
> 73 - Scott N1JIN
>
> david sutton wrote:
> > All very true statments.
> > You see it on the amateur radio groups all the time. most on this group
> will agree i'm sure, Just reading posts from some ham's makes my skine
> cringe.
> > The comment Dave G0OIL made about Dayton and the vacume capacitors he was
> carying. unfortunatley nowa days you don't need to know what a risistor or
> Cap looks like you just got to be able to remember what the right answer is
> to the question.
> > I to remember the time back in england, when you walked down the High
> street Tandy and Richards electric, all sold electronic part's, my local
> Richard electric's was owned by a Radio Ham G3VZR. he sold washing machine
> part's and Heathkit, kits and a ham's tresure trove of parts. The manger in
> Tandy was a ex-royal signles sg maj, Now today if you go into Radio shack,
> you will find youngsters capable of telling you how to send text on your
> cell phone, but not an idea as to what those things are in the grey draw
> racks at the back of the store are for or do.
> > my 2 cent's
> > Dave
> >
> > Brits with a southern call? how strange, only when you hear the accent.
> > see kg4uxr on :-
> > www.qrz.com/callsign/kg4uxr
> >
> >
> >
> >
> > ________________________________
> > From: Scott McGrath mcgrath@fas.harvard.edu
> >
> > Subject: Re: [Amps] Fleamarkets
> >
> > Unfortunately due to the loss of electronic manufacturing in the US,
> > The majority of the technical population in the US has NEVER constructed
> > an electronic device and parts sources are few and far between, I'm in
> > my early forties and I can remember Radio Shack, Lafayette Radio and my
> > town had Evans Radio and Stark Brothers electronics so you had parts and
> > books by people like Forest Mims on building electronic gadgets.
> >
> > Popular Electroncs had articles on building a "TV Typewriter" now we
> > have "How to hook up your Home Theater". Ah just another step towards
> > a third world economy i.e. Import manufactured goods and Export raw
> > materials and agricultural products.
> >
> >
> >
> > Dr. David Kirkby wrote:
> >
> >> Jim Thomson wrote:
> >>
> >>
> >>> From: Dave White <mausoptik@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
> >>
> >
> >
> >
> >
> > _______________________________________________
> > Amps mailing list
> > Amps@contesting.com
> > http://lists.contesting.com/mailman/listinfo/amps
> >
>
> _______________________________________________
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>
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