[Antennas] Correction

Thu Jul 27 23:31:53 EDT 2006

I just saw a typo in my message.
I don't know how many caught it, but it was in an unfortunate place.
The correction is:
*** *** ***
Hello Sean,
I'm sorry that you got that remark. If it was meant in a mean spirited way
it shouldn't have been made.
There is however another explaination for the remark: Shock.
I just wanted to explain perhaps why someone would give that comment and be
shocked.
*** *** ***
What was typed was: "If it was meant in a mean spirited way it should have 
been made."
I must have proof read the message three or four times and I never saw that 
one.
I wouldn't say that I was sorry that someone got that remark and then if it 
was meant in a mean spirited way it should (wrong word) have been made.
If anyone didn't catch my typo - and read it the way it was written, I 
appologize for my missing the n't in shouldn't.
I glossed over that error four or five times as I proofread the message with 
what I thought was a fine toothed comb.
Every time I read the message (and I've re-read it several times after 
sending it), I never saw the missing n't until a few minutes ago.
If you caught the typo from context, you understand. If you didn't 
understand that it was a typo, I am very sorry if you took it that way and 
felt pain and anger or anyother negative emotion.
I did proofread my message about five times but I didn't see that error at 
all. I even read it aloud and every time I included the n't.
73
David Ring
N1EA
=30=
----- Original Message ----- 
From: "David J. Ring, Jr." <n1ea at arrl.net>
To: <w8okn at charter.net>; "Sam Morgan" <ka5oai at cox.net>
Cc: "antennas - qth.net" <antennas at mailman.qth.net>
Sent: Thursday, July 27, 2006 3:32 PM
Subject: [Antennas] A message of explaination
Hello Sean,
I'm sorry that you got that remark. If it was meant in a mean spirited way
it should have been made.
There is however another explaination for the remark: Shock.
I just wanted to explain perhaps why someone would give that comment and be
shocked.
I think rather than mean spirited the person who said this was in shock or
let's give him the benefit of the doubt.
Here is why he would have been in shock.
The knowledge required by the Extra class license has always been at the
expert level - at the same level of testing as commercial radio operators
which was at the expert level TV and radio stations, radar and so forth.
I know because I tried to take the Extra test in 1967 with the knowledge
required of a General and reading QST and the handbook from cover to cover
and most of the antenna book except for the advanced math section. I
struggle with advanced calculus to this day.
I was totally unprepared for what was in the test. The scope of it
astonished me. This was an expert's test - at the same level as the
commercial radiotelephone and radiotelegraph licenses.
Basically the Extra requires you to be an expert on any and all pieces of
amateur equipment and mode available down to the component level and the
theory and practice (construction, repairs, maintance and operation). You
were tested on everything that there was to be known about the subjects from
d.c. to microwaves, and every mode type of transmitter and receiver of every
mode authorized by the FCC and the rules and the regulations both FCC and
ITU. The questions could be taken from any portion, so you had to know them
all.
To learn the subject matter, I basically had to read and understand every
book published about amateur radio in the United States - including the West
Coast Handbook - which I hadn't even heard of - which gets even more
advanced than the ARRL publications.
Even after I did read an understand that, there were about three questions
which were very esoteric.
To this date with the material required for the Extra, I have never
encountered a topic in any discussion or in any publication that I didn't
throughly understand except for the advanced calculus in transmission line
theory and Fornier transforms. I know what they do, but I cannot come up
with the answer by calculus, I can only measure it with equipment, but
fortunately doing it trumps calculating it.
The morse examination also was at an expert level it was at the same speed
as commercial operators - 20 wpm English text to be copied by hand and
legibly to the instructor every character at least one minute. You also had
to send perfectly at least for one minute with a hand key at the same speed.
I can still do 23 wpm even with severe arthritus and severe knucke
malformation (birth defect). That also keeps my copying speed at around 40
wpm on paper with no errors, above 45 I frequently jam the keys. At 55 wpm
I can manage to copy about 3/4 of a minute - but with regular errors that
exceeds the one per minute. That is a lot of work for me.
I know that the Extra (at least in 1967) was at the same knowledge level as
the commercial exams because I currently hold the Amateur Extra, first-class
radiotelephone and first-class radiotelegraph license with radar
endorsement.
This doesn't seem to be happening today. My guess it is because successful
candidates just have to memorize the answers and not study the material from
which questions were drawn.
In other words: The knowledge at the expert level which would have produced
a correct answer seems to be lacking.
Certainly you were tested on radiation patterns, colinear and broadside
arrays and phasing methods when you took your Extra, weren't you? I loved
showing how the tilt angle on rhombics reinforced the radiation from the
four sides of the diamond. You remember that, right? It was so cool.
Perhaps you asked a question which showed you didn't know at the expert
level a subject for which you were tested.
I was shocked when I heard what some Extras know or could do. First the
high standards for professional level morse code came down, then the code
test was changed from pencil copy to multiple choice and later questions.
The sending test was eliminated. The result was that people who got credit
for the Extra code test could barely comprehend 10 wpm. There even were
commercial operators who got credit for their commercial ticket (another
late rule change) from having their Extra. This fellow couldn't copy 10 wpm
and couldn't keep a log of the traffic on 500 kHz (required by law). He
wasn't at expert's level at all - he wasn't even at the old 13 wpm General
Amateur Level but due to FCC rule changes, he passed the exam for Extra and
was granted credit for the entire commercial test - which required copy at
20 wpm English, 16 gpm (equal to 20 wpm) code groups of random letters.
I don't think the subject breadth of the Extra theory has changed in scope -
the problem is that people can pass the test without being experts in their
field by learning the exact questions and answers.
73
David Ring, N1EA
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