Jim Hampton wrote:
What you do not seem to realize is that the folks that actually learned
something (before the multiple guess answers came out), just might have a
few skills.

These are usually folks that have a genuine interest in how things work, not
how to turn a knob or push a button or keys. This isn't to say that folks
that simply wish to talk are not welcome; they certainly are.

Although I do not possess a college degree, I am a certified electronics
technician. I have repaired two-way radios (business and trunking radios).
I have done a lot of electrical control and power wiring. I have not worked
in high voltage, but have done a fair amount of 277/480 3 phase work. I've
climbed atop silos and repaired bag houses. Welded, soldered, cut, run
milling machines, surface grinders, lathes, and more. If a saws-all can't
do the job readily, the oxy-acetylene tourch will handle it well for me
(hmmmm ... wonder how that would solder pl-259s? LOL). Done EMC compliance
studies along with UL compliance. Come to think of it, ozone compliance.
Can you spell exponential decay? Come to think of it, I've programmed
slc-500s, Texas Instruments PLCs, Modicon PLCs, and more (including data
highways and ethernet). Even written a program to generate ladders from
simply inputting I/O assignments and letting the program know what I want to
have happen. Under 15 minutes to properly program 3 cells. Another 5
minutes to debug because someone wired a switch backwards (normally closed
rather than normally open).

And a whole lot more, I bet.

The trouble is that skills aren't as valued as they once were.
Particularly if they aren't "state of the art", whatever that means.
Whether it be
Morse Code or how to put up an antenna in a less-than-perfect location,
or even make your own bread, many people look down upon "basic" or
"old" skills as a sort of poor relation to "high tech". As in "not
worth their time or effort".

The nice thing about amateur radio is that it encompasses a whole spectrum
of individuals, unlike most trade magazines. To me, advertising in an
amateur publication such as QST would make a lot of sense, especially if you
are trying to locate a number of different skills (rather than a number of
ads in different magazines or newspapers).

Agree 100%. There's a long history of such ads, too.

As to Morse, it can be fun. If we had difficulty with it back when (for me,
1962), we learned to overcome that difficulty (not a bad thing to learn, in
my humble opinion). Come to think of it, as much grief as it gave me (when
memorizing dots and dashes), once I learned it by sound, I enjoyed it and by
1967 had perfect copy at 40 words per minute in the U.S. Navy. More than
40? I don't know; that was the fastest test they had back then. I would
have had difficulty much beyond that as we were banging away with manual
typewriters then. I might have (possibly) made 50 at most. Disclaimer -
that would be perfect typewritten copy filling close to a whole page of
paper. A few errors would have allowed me considerably faster copy. Then.
(LOL)

It took a bit of doing for me to learn Morse Code. First I acquired a
straight key and built an oscillator so I could practice sending. But
they also tested receiving back in 1967, so I had to build a receiver,
find the 80 meter ham band, find some hams sending fairly slowly, and
then figure out what they were sending. I guess being 12-13 years old
and not having anybody tell me I was too young helped...

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You may enjoy this article, too: I sure did.

http://www.salon.com/opinion/feature...ml?sid=1394604

73 de Jim, N2EY