Home |
Search |
Today's Posts |
#9
|
|||
|
|||
wrote in message oups.com... KØHB wrote: When I first became involved in electronics, slide rules were the one absolutely necessary calculation tool owned by every engineer and technician. They were simple, uncomplicated, easy to use (after some period of rather tedious practice), and delightfully low tech. Then, as the giant asteroid was to dinosaurs, overnight the $9.95 pocket calculator killed the slide rule. Despite it's ubiquity and utter simplicity the mighty slide rule went extinct in less than a decade! Yup. Saw it happen. On another front, when I first became involved in amateur radio, Morse code was the one absolutely necessary communications mode used by every ham. When was that, Hans? Hams have been using 'phone since the 1920s if not earlier. By the early 1930s there were a handful of hams on SSB. There *was* a time when license renewal required a certain amount of time on the air using Morse. But that was gone by about 1950 or so. Before 1991, every US ham had to "use Morse Code" at least once - to get a license. It was simple, uncomplicated, easy to use (after some period of rather tedious practice) and delightfully low tech. Still is! It was the amateur communication mode-of-choice for over three generations. Which three? Then, as the giant asteroid was to dinosaurs, overnight.......... Not much happened. Your analogy falls apart in a couple of places, Hans. First off, the introduction of calculators did indeed pretty much wipe out the use of slide rules. But the introduction of other modes to ham radio has not wiped out the use of Morse Code. Second, very few people do calculation as an end in itself. They're almost always doing it to reach a goal - as a means to an end, whether it be how many turns go on the toroid to how many studs are needed in a wall 29' 8" long if they're on 16" centers. But ham radio is largely about radio for its own sake. The introduction of outboard motors did not kill off rowboats and sailboats. The invention of the bicycle and roller skates did not eliminate walking and running. Etc. I became a ham in 1967, back when a lot of hams were giving up their separate HF transmitters and receivers for transceivers. That trend had started almost 10 years earlier and by the time I came along the selection of transceivers was greater than the selection of separates. Yet none of the amateur HF transceivers on the market back then was very good for Morse Code. Almost all lacked sharp filters, RIT, and AGC OFF. Some didn't even cover the whole band! They were SSB transceivers first and Morse Code capability was tacked on. Even the expensive Collins KWM-2 was pretty awful on Morse Code. I remember hams back then telling me that the use of Morse Code by hams was obviously on the way out, because the big manufacturers were focused on making SSB rigs. Some of them laughed at my efforts to set up a good Morse Code ham rig on a slim budget, saying there would be nobody left to talk to with that mode soon, and that all the 'modern' hams were buying HF SSB transceivers. It wasn't until the mid 1970s that amateur HF transceivers with decent Morse Code performance showed up on the market. Most of them were made in Japan, or by an upstart company called Ten Tec. Even then things like a sharp filter were extra-cost options. Yet the use of Morse Code by hams continued, and does so today, 40 years after I was told the mode was all but dead. 73 de Jim, N2EY Hello, Jim There was always the Q-multiplier for us money challenged folks Heathkit Q-1, was it? I had one and it did a decent job with that lousy Halliscratcher S-20R. 73 from Rochester, NY Jim AA2QA |