I feel that I must apologise for the crocodile of immature
and abusive children who dog my every effort on Usenet,
and in particular who have tried to reduce this thread to
an issuance from the cess-pit.

I have been on Usenet since 1994. In that time I have contributed
many articles on my stance towards maintaining the technical and
gentlemanly traditions of Ham Radio. For my pains I have
picked up a series of unpleasant individuals (who illustrate
very well the unacceptable decline in standards?) who resort
to the most grossly offensive and gratuitously insulting outbursts
unrelated to anything that I have ever said or done.

I have _NEVER_ originated any personal attacks on anybody. I am,
however, only human, and have replied on occasion, but only in
defensive indignance.

I have _NEVER_ published any articles intended to annoy people
or to provoke them. Everything that I have published has been
a sincere expression of my stance on a number of areas, liberalism,
republicanism, pacifism, poetry, atheism, anti-plod violence, Ham Radio.

I have never claimed to be omniscient; indeed, when there have areas
in which I have been unable to understand things, I have posted
queries.

I have on several occasions chastised those who use an international
forum such as Usenet to publish infantile insulting tirades. I shall
continue to do so.

"William E. Sabin" wrote in message
news:V4RMg.39723$aJ.14372@attbi_s21...
In addition to the properties and usage of basic discrete components
(still very important) and the appreciation of fundamental principles
(from an introductory mathematical perspective) of electronics, there is
an increasing interest in the use of integrated circuits, especially at
low and intermediate signal levels. It is seldom necessary to be an
expert at the inner workings of these ICs, but the ability to understand
their data sheets and how to employ and interconnect them is a skill that
is very useful.

We probably could be tested a little regarding the basic usage of certain
kinds of ICs such as opamp, multiplier and DSP types.

Bill W0IYH

"nntp.aioe.org" wrote in message
...
I suggest that it still lies in the areas of LC filters, resistor
networks and individual transistor (or valve) operation.

Because, although the bulk of our circuit complexity
will soon lie in a single DSP chip, the interfaces to that chip,
to us at the baseband end and then to the antenna at the RF end,
still depend upon traditional electronic (pre-IC) practice.

How, then, can it be possible to issue Ham Radio licences
to those who cannot tell one end of a resistor from the other?

How, then, can it ever be possible to issue Ham Radio
licences to those of 6 years of age who lack the mathematical
capability to understand the evaluation of resistances in parallel?

The answer is, that it cannot be possible, and that licences
issued to such people are CB licences, no more, no less.

Syllabi for Ham Radio exams should resort to the traditional
subjects of familiarity with elemental electrical and electronic
components together with a modernised examination of the
ability to write software and understanding of DSP theory.