I received a reply from ARRL headquarters (regarding USMA:10250) and I
sent these comments back.
Jim
---------- Forwarded Message ----------
Subject: RE: ARLS001 AO-40 Recovery Continues
Date: Fri, 05 Jan 2001 10:44:32 -0500
From: "James R. Frysinger" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
Thanks for the reply, Rick. I've interspersed a few comments below....
On Fri, 05 Jan 2001, Lindquist, Rick, N1RL wrote:
> Hi, Jim
>
> Thanks for writing.
>
> AMSAT, the AO-40 sponsor, refers to this propulstion system as a
> 400-N(ewton) motor. I'm sure you'd agree that it would be confusing to
> attempt to convert that to English units to make it uniform with US
> measurement standards.
I have absolutely no desire to see things like "400 newtons"
converted to English units! (Lockheed-Martin didn't have much luck with
that approach, did they?)
> The Webster's New World Dictionary, which is our spelling and (in part)
> style guide, uses an upper-case N as the abbreviation for this unit of
> measure. So do the AMSAT folks in Germany who initiated its use relative to
> the AO-40 propulsion system.
Perhaps I can clarify some things here for you. In "400 N", the
"N" is the unit symbol (not abbreviation) for "newton" and is properly
written in uppercase since the unit was named after a person. However,
when spelling out unit names in English, the unit name is written
entirely in lowercase as in "400 newtons". When the unit is named for a
person, the unit symbol is capitalized and the spelled out unit name
is not.
My Webster's Ninth Collegiate Dictionary correctly shows the
spelled out word as not being capitalized. Even better references are:
1. The Federal Register notice, "Metric System of Measurement:
Interpretation of the International System of Units for the United
States":
http://physics.nist.gov/Document/SIFedReg.pdf
2. NIST's "The International System of Units (SI)":
http://physics.nist.gov/Pubs/SP330/sp330.html
3. NIST's "Guide for the Use of the International System of Units
(SI)":
http://physics.nist.gov/Pubs/SP811/sp811.html
It should be noted that German practice understandably follows
German rules of grammar. Thus, in German, all nouns (including unit
names such as Newton or prefixed unit names such as Kilonewton) are
capitlalized. Careful translation takes this grammatical difference
between the two languages into account. You might wish to visit my web
page on "SI in German" at
http://www.cofc.edu/~frysingj/SI_german.htm
which is part of my larger set of pages, "SI Guide" at
http://www.cofc.edu/~frysingj/SIguidelines.htm
> Silly or not, hams have nicely accommodated themselves to the discrepancy
> between describing wavelength in metric terms and antennas in English units.
> While to a scientifically organized mind it might seem be the neatest
> approach, it's what we've been dealing with for many decades now.
The beginnings of amateur radio were a time of forward
thinking, advancement in technology, growth in international outlook,
and development of (and adherence to) international standards. They
recognized that progress requires changes and change means doing things
differently than one used to do them. This is no time for U.S. radio
amateurs to give up those precepts. The international standard for
units of measurement is the SI. It is not only the legal, preferred
system of measurement in the U.S., it is used by 96 % of the people of
the world when dealing with "everything from supper on the table to
satellites in space". The SI is not for science or technology alone; it
is universally used across political boundaries, vocations, and
avocations.
In keeping with the international outlook that ham's have
traditionally had, I suggest an article in QST on the SI. If you are
interested, I would be willing to write an article that gives the
background, references, perspective, and application to amateur radio
that this subject calls for. Of course, there would be no fee for
writing this article; it would be my contribution to our community.
Perhaps such an article could launch some enthusiastic discussion. I
suspect that many will be surprised at how ready American hams are to
adapt to using this system entirely. Please let me know if you are
interested in such an article.
73,
Jim
WB1ELJ
-------------------------------------------------------
--
James R. Frysinger University/College of Charleston
10 Captiva Row Dept. of Physics and Astronomy
Charleston, SC 29407 66 George Street
843.225.0805 Charleston, SC 29424
http://www.cofc.edu/~frysingj [EMAIL PROTECTED]
Cert. Adv. Metrication Specialist 843.953.7644
