>Aren't we in danger of going too far down the line of absolving people >from >having to think for themselves? However did we manage with radios that >just >put out the power set on the power control?
--------------------------------------------------- Set by the power control? How about adjusting biases and monitoring the operating conditions of the critical stages via voltages and currents to determine if things are working correctly and, if not, where the issue might be... But most of these requests are from people looking for an operating edge, not an advance in the underlying communications technology. They want to be as competitive as possible in snagging that rare DX (or running the string as efficiently as possible when they *are* the DX) or racking up the biggest possible score in a contest. Back in the days when we worried about adjusting plate tuning, setting grid drive, etc., some of those Hams built (or bought) separate rigs for each band so they could jump from one to another as quickly as possible. Now they are trying to be competitive with everyone else who has a highly-automated rig. Just as the exact position of feet in the starting blocks can make the difference between winning and losing a 100-yard sprint, how many button pushes it takes to do something can make a huge difference to them. So they campaign and hope. The day will come when some Hams simply program in a start time for the next contest and the rig runs the contest completely unaided. But the Ham him (or her)self won't be relaxing too much. He/she will be pouring over possibilities to make the whole thing work just a bit more efficiently. It doesn't have to make sense. The huge value and advantage in Ham radio is that we can do, within very, very broad limits, whatever interests us, no matter how silly or inane it may look to others. For some, it's scoring high on a contest. For others, it's having the highest-fidelity audio possible. And, for some, it's grabbing that weak signal from a QRPp station on 40 meter CW or actually making a QSO with our latest homebrew creations. The number of these seemingly inane, silly activities is endless. It's also just these sort of things that have paid huge benefits to individuals and societies in often-unexpected ways throughout history. So to answer your question, "Aren't we in danger of going too far down the line of absolving people from having to think for themselves?" I say, "not a chance". Those who choose not to think won't do so under any conditions. For the rest, there's always something new to think about... Ron AC7AC _______________________________________________ Elecraft mailing list Post to: [email protected] You must be a subscriber to post to the list. Subscriber Info (Addr. Change, sub, unsub etc.): http://mailman.qth.net/mailman/listinfo/elecraft Help: http://mailman.qth.net/subscribers.htm Elecraft web page: http://www.elecraft.com _______________________________________________ Elecraft mailing list Post to: [email protected] You must be a subscriber to post to the list. Subscriber Info (Addr. Change, sub, unsub etc.): http://mailman.qth.net/mailman/listinfo/elecraft Help: http://mailman.qth.net/subscribers.htm Elecraft web page: http://www.elecraft.com
