My response to your question, Jim, echoes Don's. I expected to teach electronics - basic RF and dc circuits - and ended up studying all about various operating practices I had never explored. Things like satellite communications (including calculating orbits) and a whole bunch of digital modes.
I don't recall anything in the Extra test that would qualify the individual to work on a rig, much less troubleshoot or design a basic rig like we had in years previously. But that's not limited to Ham tests. Years ago I obtained a commercial radiotelegraph license - the license required to operate CW at shore stations and aboard ships. It was heavy with questions testing my knowledge of RF circuits and how to properly adjust, troubleshoot and repair transmitters and receivers. More recently, I obtained GMDSS operator's and maintainer's licenses. GMDSS is what replaced the radio officer and his CW rig on ships. It replaced CW on 600 meters with SSB on the "short waves" as the primary means of communicating with shore and other vessels in an emergency. Again, there was nothing asked of circuit knowledge as in the former radiotelegraph licenses. Instead, it was all about interfacing "boxes" and how to "troubleshoot" problems in digital systems (including demonstrating the ability to convert between Binary, HEX, Octal and decimal number systems using a pencil (no calculators). On the operating side were extensive questions about how to choose the best frequency across the HF spectrum to communicate over the required distance depending upon the time of day and point in the sunspot cycles, etc. "Radiomen" (and women) today - Amateur and Commercial - are no longer expected to know much about what goes on "under the hood" of the gear, even those licensed to "maintain" critical systems. "Maintenance" has become a process of diagnosing which pc board or box has failed and replacing it. That doesn't mean that it's not important for *someone* to know how circuits work, just that the FCC is no longer testing for that knowledge. Ron AC7AC ______________________________________________________________ Elecraft mailing list Home: http://mailman.qth.net/mailman/listinfo/elecraft Help: http://mailman.qth.net/mmfaq.htm Post: mailto:[email protected] This list hosted by: http://www.qsl.net Please help support this email list: http://www.qsl.net/donate.html
