At 12:34 PM -0800 1/9/05, Ron D'Eau Claire wrote:
I thought atomic clocks were desired for their "gee whiz" interest, not
because someone usually needs to know what time it is to the nearest
millisecond.
I'm serious about the value of the "gee whiz" factor as in, "Gee whiz! Look
at that!"
After all, isn't that why we're all hams and why we build gear? Let's not
insist on diluting the sheer enjoyment of the "Gee whiz" response with petty
practicality...
Ron, I think you are missing it completely. We hams tend to be lazy.
We build things to make it easier for us.
In my case, I got really tired of my wife yelling at me because the
clocks were an hour off six months out of the year. Why some years it
got so bad that I actually considered resetting some of the clocks.
Then I found (and bought) some of these "atomic clocks." They are
on-time all year around, The YF doesn't miss her shows any more, and,
most important, they have eliminated the "atomic ache."
I just wish I had thought of creating the device before anyone else
had so that now _I_ would be rich and not the guy who actually did
it...
THAT's the "Gee whiz" factor, as in, "Gee whiz, why didn't I think of that..."
-Jack Brindle, W6FB
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