My son took and electronics course at Benson High School in Portland Oregon.
The teacher was totally clueless and just made things up as he went along.
One of them was that the higher the voltage on a wire, the faster it travels
in the wire. It took me all day to make my son believe that his teacher was
just a clueless sot and to understand ohms law. From my son's perspective, a
teacher must really know something to be a teacher. Sadly, this is far from
true.

The good news was that I was forced to take a more active part in his
education about electronics. We built and tested projects together and it
was good for both of us.

It's interesting you mention that, Tom.

I just got my Extra last month. Now, I admit I am not an electronics
expert. I had to study really hard before I felt I could take the test.
What was funny was actually taking the test.

There were a total of six people testing. Myself and five others. Two
going for Technician, two going for General, and two going for Extra (myself
and one other guy I didn't know). So, I'm pounding away on the calculator
and the other Extra finishes before anyone. He must have only taken ten
minutes, if that. He had to of memorized the answers. Actually there were
a total of three people who had to have memorized the questions. No way
they could have finished so fast. Actually, I was the only one who brought
a calculator, so that tells you something.

What was really interesting to me was that the other Extra had now passed
all the writtens, but had never passed the 5 WPM code test. So, no HF
priveleges until he does that.

I was licensed fifteen years ago and got up through Advanced and took the
code tests. But I moved out of state and never got around to taking the
Extra. Now, it's all changed and there are only three tests.

Anyway, interesting experience.

Rod KI7CQ

On Fri, 25 Nov 2005 16:11:28 GMT, Irv Finkleman wrote:
Phil Wheeler wrote:
Michael wrote:
My son took and electronics course at Benson High School in Portland Oregon.
The teacher was totally clueless and just made things up as he went along.

Ah yes. I attended Bensen Tech (so it was called then) in the Fall of
1953. We were taught to check light sockets for electricity be removing
the bulb and putting our fingers in them. Harmless fun :-)

I couldn't wait to be old enough to go to tech so I tried the light
socket test at home at age 7. Thus begun my lifetime love of communications
and electronics! The results of the experiments proved so valid that I never
again had the need to revalidate!

I built my first light bulb at the age of 8 -- I used a test tube
from a chemistry set of mine and about 10" of bare copper wire that
I found in my dad's ham shack (the original W3DHJ). Hell, it sure
looked a lot like a light bulb! Then I poked it into the wall outlet
in my bedroom. BIG TIME mistake! I was an Army Brat and we were living
in conscripted housing in Bremerhaven, Germany at the time....
Thus began my lifetime love of of all things electronical.

(-: I suppose this OT thread should be in rec.radio.amateur.homebrew. :-)

Jonesy
--
Marvin L Jones | jonz | W3DHJ | linux
Pueblo, Colorado | @ | Jonesy | OS/2 __
38.24N 104.55W | config.com | DM78rf | SK

"Rod Maupin" wrote in message
...
It's interesting you mention that, Tom.

I just got my Extra last month. Now, I admit I am not an electronics
expert. I had to study really hard before I felt I could take the test.
What was funny was actually taking the test.

There were a total of six people testing. Myself and five others. Two
going for Technician, two going for General, and two going for Extra
(myself
and one other guy I didn't know). So, I'm pounding away on the calculator
and the other Extra finishes before anyone. He must have only taken ten
minutes, if that. He had to of memorized the answers. Actually there
were
a total of three people who had to have memorized the questions. No way
they could have finished so fast. Actually, I was the only one who
brought
a calculator, so that tells you something.

What was really interesting to me was that the other Extra had now passed
all the writtens, but had never passed the 5 WPM code test. So, no HF
priveleges until he does that.

I was licensed fifteen years ago and got up through Advanced and took the
code tests. But I moved out of state and never got around to taking the
Extra. Now, it's all changed and there are only three tests.

Anyway, interesting experience.

Rod KI7CQ


Instead of studying electronics you should have been studying the qusetion
and answer book. When the questions are the same as in the book , it is no
use learning anything for a test.
I had the tech license for about 25 years. Just did not want to take time
for the code and did not care anything for the lowbands anyway. The job I
had gave me some free time on the night shift so I finally decided to take
in some code tapes and learn the code on company time. Went to Advanced and
about a year later the Extra. I never did get a chance to look at the Q&A
book. I did not need a calculator fo rthe tests. The answers are usualy
broad enough you can almost guess at them and a quick check with a pencil
and paper will do.

I have not seen the new Extra exam but the old one was very easy compaired
to the old Advanced exam. By the way, in 1972 when I took the First Class
Phone license there were no calculators or Q&A books with the exect Q&As.

Rod Maupin wrote:
So, I'm pounding away on the calculator
and the other Extra finishes before anyone. He must have only taken ten
minutes, if that. He had to of memorized the answers.

Rod, I finished that trivial Extra exam in 10 minutes and
I can assure you, with a EE degree and MENSA membership,
I didn't memorize the answers.
--
73, Cecil http://www.qsl.net/w5dxp

Cecil Moore wrote:
Rod Maupin wrote:

So, I'm pounding away on the calculator and the other Extra finishes
before anyone. He must have only taken ten minutes, if that. He had
to of memorized the answers.


Rod, I finished that trivial Extra exam in 10 minutes and
I can assure you, with a EE degree and MENSA membership,
I didn't memorize the answers.


But it does happen. Back in the 20 WPM days, maybe ten years ago, one
ham I know .. who was a former Navy telegraph op .. passed the written
part by memorizing every Q&A. And it showed: He was a technical
know-nothing. Nice guy, though.

Phil

Well, that's impressive to me.

I didn't know anything about electronics until I became a ham. I still
don't know much. I know how to set up a station and how to put out a clean
signal. But I don't know enough to build anything. Which is a shame.
Seems like there are a lot of fun projects out there.

Rod KI7CQ

Rod Maupin wrote:
Well, that's impressive to me.

I didn't know anything about electronics until I became a ham. I still
don't know much. I know how to set up a station and how to put out a clean
signal. But I don't know enough to build anything. Which is a shame.
Seems like there are a lot of fun projects out there.

Rod KI7CQ


There are. You should checkout the Elecraft website: Fun!

Allodoxaphobia wrote:

SNIPPED


I built my first light bulb at the age of 8 -- I used a test tube
from a chemistry set of mine and about 10" of bare copper wire that
I found in my dad's ham shack (the original W3DHJ). Hell, it sure
looked a lot like a light bulb! Then I poked it into the wall outlet
in my bedroom. BIG TIME mistake! I was an Army Brat and we were living
in conscripted housing in Bremerhaven, Germany at the time....
Thus began my lifetime love of of all things electronical.

(-: I suppose this OT thread should be in rec.radio.amateur.homebrew. :-)

Jonesy

OR: rec.radio.amateur.need.insurance

Amos Keag wrote:
Allodoxaphobia wrote:

SNIPPED



I built my first light bulb at the age of 8 -- I used a test tube
from a chemistry set of mine and about 10" of bare copper wire that
I found in my dad's ham shack (the original W3DHJ). Hell, it sure
looked a lot like a light bulb! Then I poked it into the wall outlet
in my bedroom. BIG TIME mistake! I was an Army Brat and we were
living in conscripted housing in Bremerhaven, Germany at the time....
Thus began my lifetime love of of all things electronical.

(-: I suppose this OT thread should be in rec.radio.amateur.homebrew.
:-)

Jonesy


OR: rec.radio.amateur.need.insurance



Funny!

Phil W7OX