KB6NU's Ham Radio Blog

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Even appliance operators should understand radio/electronics basics

Posted: 12 Apr 2018 12:00 PM PDT
http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/kb6nu...m_medium=email


The recent report on the number of new licensees in 2017 pointed out, The
number of amateur radio license upgrades was 9,576 in 2017, continuing a
slight downward trend over the past 10 years. While we really need some
kind of study to determine why this is so, below is a conversation from
Reddit that might shed some light on this.


LS

As you progress into higher licenses the math gets more difficult. We can
argue if thats a good or bad thing, but it is almost entirely whats keeping
me from upgrading now. And I have little desire to design my own
tranciever, or even homebrew many circuits. (Not at all a fan of soldering
small components). And if I do, Ill use a kit because I have even less
desire to individually buy tiny components.

Does this mean I have no chance of properly operating on HF? How many
higher license classes regularly use the knowledge they are required to
learn to pass the test? Its bad enough most of us have to memorize
countless useless facts to get a degree and decent career. Im not looking
for a hobby to replace that. Go ahead and call me an appliance operator.
That is our futu appliances. Anything short of the most basic radio cant
really be built from scratch. And no, uBitx doesnt count as its plugging in
pre made boards and a little soldering. Not much harder than assembling a
PC, and I did that for years with no formal training. Professionally no
less.


RY

That is our futu appliances. Anything short of the most basic radio cant
really be built from scratch. And no, uBitx doesnt count as its plugging in
pre made boards and a little soldering. Not much harder than assembling a
PC, and I did that for years with no formal training. Professionally no
less.

I disagree with your statements. There are plenty of hams that can and do
build modern transistor or old school tube type rigs from scratch. Im one
of them. In fact just a few days ago I finished the receive section of a
direct conversion receiver, the amplifiers, and double balanced modulator
are made from discrete diodes and transistors. All the toroids I wound by
hand, band pass filter was made from adjustable caps and more hand-wound
toroids, tuned it with a broad band noise sourcealso made from scratch. The
only digital circuit is an arduino nano controlling the si5351 clock
source, youd have to be really old school to make your own analogue VFO
these days, simply not worth the trouble.

FWIW the bitx project started in ~2004 as a 20m SSB rig that could only be
built from scratch, it was such an elegant and simple design that it gained
a lot of popularity among the homebrew crowd. It wasnt until 2007 or later
that folks started commercializing it and began selling kits or premade
pcbs. Despite its commercial success, the bitx design remains popular for
people who like to build their own gear.


NS

Fair enough, and know Im not belittling your efforts. Im hella impressed
with folks that have the level of patience required for all that. I dont
have it, and dont want it. Tubes? Hell no. Again, personal choice not a
dig. I love seeing radios glow in the dark, but Im not nearly committed
enough to keep one running,

Me? Im a fan of SDR based HF tranceivers. Give me a box that does what its
supposed to and let me do my thing. Built in sound card for digital? Yes
please. Built in PC control? Ditto. Yes Im fully aware Ill never be able to
repair that kind of device, and thats the idea. Im not looking for a gadget
I need to tinker with and/or maintain. I gave up rooting and ROMing my
daily phone years ago. I loved the flexibility, but it came at the cost of
my time and sanity, I use vanilla Android for my daily driver. When I want
to torture myself, I grab one of the older ROMed tablets I still have and
plug it in. Same principle applies here. I do not want another thing I need
to tend to.

The transceiver to me is a means to an end. No disrespect to those that
value the device for what it is, I just want one for what it does. The
easier to operate the better. Id love a smart-device/HF hybrid radio. No PC
required for digital modes. Power, antenna, GO!


dan_kb6nu Ann Arbor, MI

Even appliance operators need to know how things work. If you dont, what
are you going to do when things go wrongas they inevitably will? Are you
just going to throw up your hands and never touch the radio gear again? I
think a lot of hams do do that because they dont have the insight they need
to make their radio stations more effective and fix things when they fail.


NS

Me? Hell no. I tend to get more interested when things do NOT work as they
should. Ive rolled an APRS iGate and an Allstar node out of a Pi and an HT
mostly to figure out how. Especially the node since I dont ragchew. But
thats my point: I will dig in and learn once I have a need to, but honestly
until then its useless knowledge in a head already filled with enough. Ive
been playing with radios for well over 35 years now starting with CBs in
the 80s. In fact Ive works DX plenty free banding back then. (All pre-adult
and pre-license. No excuse but I did go legit). Do I really need to know
things like what do you get if you put these value transistors in parallel
if Im not designing my own circuits? If, and I mean if I ever decided to
attempt a repair of tiny electronics, Id replace like for like. So I would
know the proper values required.

But to that point, how much repair can one really do to an SDR based
tranciever? Short of fixing a stray solder point its just about all
integrated circuits. And the last thing I want is a restoration project in
the shack. Ill buy a classic car if I want that kind of challenge. LOL.


dan_kb6nu Ann Arbor, MI

Im not talking about repairing an SDR (although thats not out of the
question). Understanding basic electronic principles can help you in lots
of different circumstances. For example, say you want to run two radios off
a single power supply. What do you have there? Basically, two resistors
(loads) in parallel across a voltage source.

You seem like a smart guy, and the General Class test isnt rocket science.
Just do it. If you want help with the math, let me know, and Ill help you
with that.


JH

First off, listen, you can get that general license. My 8-year old got his
technician license before the teacher had covered negative numbers,
decimals, and long division. When we came to problems where he needed these
skills, I would show him how to do it, but often, ultimately, Id say, Just
memorize this one. For example, questions about decibels or logarithms.
Yes, its not realistic for an 8-year old to grasp a log scale. But I think
the material is still relevant and hell learn it as he goes when he is
ready for it.

With regards to the general, I dont really think the math is stepped up
that much. Lots of folks have trouble with the math, but it can be overcome
with repetition and memorization. Its not insurmountable. Keep at it and
you will get there. I think removing the math would be attractive to a lot
of folks but the math is there for a reason, it reminds us that what we do
isnt purely magic there is a real reason for how things work!


It seems to me that, for some reason, this guy is either afraid of the
math, or afraid of failing the test, or some combination of the two. I dont
think hes alone, either. If were really concerned about how few people
upgrade, then we need to figure out a way to address these issues.

In his first comment, LS asks, Does this [not understanding the math] mean
I have no chance of properly operating on HF? The answer to that question
is, of course, no. But, Ill stick by my opinion that understanding the
technology—and, yes, the math behind it—will help someone get more out of
amateur radio, and thats the reason LS should make an effort at learning it.

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basics appeared first on KB6NUs Ham Radio Blog.