kl7aj
10-02-2007, 10:08 PM
CHAPTER SEVEN
First You Make it Work;
Then You Make it Pretty
A lot of new hams are susceptible to putting the cart before the hearse...er...horse. Your first “job” as a ham should be getting on the air and actually communicating with someone...and making a few mistakes in the process.
If you are like most of the current breed of new hams, you have been assaulted with all kinds of conflicting and contradictory advice, and no clue as to how to sort it all out. First of all, let me assure you, it’s not your fault. For the past generation or so, we have been invaded by marauding armies. Oddly enough, these are not Barbarians, Vikings, or even Communists. No, they are far more despicable than all three combined. These frightening aliens come under the name of “Professionals.” These are people who perceive their calling in life as doing your thinking for you. These compassionate souls want to take all the risk, uncertainty, and danger out of your life. In other words, they want to remove the fun from your life. They want to organize you, schedule you, and spoon-feed you regurgitated information. You’re probably already getting enough of this from your job. The very last thing you need in your life is for ham radio to become another job. (Now, ham radio may very well prepare you for a job, as we will discuss in detail in another chapter, but it should never become one.)
Once you recognize these “Professionals” for the true villains they are, your life will become so much simpler. Having an Elmer, as mentioned earlier, will go a long ways toward keeping your sanity through your “ham infancy.”
Now, I have been licensed for going on 40 years, and I learn something new from ham radio every day. Nobody is a greater advocate of getting an education from ham radio than yours truly. But that is a whole different thing than expecting to know it all before you get on the air! Yes, you certainly want to know enough to be legal; it’s no fun getting a “QSL” card from the FCC your first day out of the chute. And you don’t want to be known as a complete lid, even if you are officially legal. But none of these considerations should EVER stop you from getting on the air, making a lot of contacts, and having fun. You’ve already worked to hard to get here to accept anything less.
Now, throughout your ham radio career, you’re going to get some bad information...it’s inevitable with any hobby of this magnitude. Unfortunately, some of this misinformation seems to take on a life of its own, reproducing itself with incredible efficiency on the amateur bands.
What we will do in this chapter is give you the basic tools to determine all by your very own self if what someone tells you is true or not, when it comes to amateur radio “information.” If you pay close attention, you will never be at the mercy of some Professional’s opinion. The nice thing about this is that it applies to your world outside of ham radio, too!
Principle 1) All information is subject to experimentation.
It is truly staggering to hear many hams argue for years...or decades...about some pet amateur radio topic, and never EVER bother to try out the thing and see. Amateur radio is a scientific hobby, above all else. There are ways to prove or disprove electronics principles. Most controversies can be settled by a simple “Let’s build it and see.”
Principle 2) The repetition of bad information does not make it good information, no matter how often the process is repeated. This would seem to need no further explanation, but experience tells us this is not the case. So, this statement itself bears repetition. The repetition of bad information does not make it good information, no matter how often the process is repeated.
Now, THAT is something I can guarantee is GOOD information! Remember it! (And feel free to repeat it as necessary).
Principle 3) Assume everything you hear is a lie. Now, at first blush, this may seem to be the formula for cynicism. Actually, it’s the formula for progress. All increase in knowledge occurs when things “everyone knows” are questioned. The beauty of this is that experimentation usually proves Principle 3 to be the case. Of course, you should be open-minded enough to admit when some past truth actually DOES turn out to be true.
Principle 4) No information at all is usually better than the wrong information.
This one bears a bit of dissertation, with a real world example.
In the early days of radio, very few amateurs had any decent test equipment. Usually the only indication that their station was working at all was the fact that they were talking to someone across the country, or on the other side of the globe. Modern hams could probably take a cue from this. To paraphrase: “If it ain’t broke, don’t fix it.” The fact of the matter was that thousands of hams successfully talked around the world for decades without really having a clue what they were doing. “Whatever Works” was the order of the day. It wasn’t always pretty, but nobody cared. Radio communication was random, unpredictable, unfathomable, and totally wonderful, for precisely those reasons.
Antennas were probably the least understood part of any ham shack. They generally consisted of whatever pieces of wire one could put into the air. Coaxial cable hadn’t even been invented, or even remotely thought of. In fact, most hams didn’t use transmission lines at all, and if they did, it usually consisted of open wire feed line of any convenient spacing. Antenna theory as we know it didn’t exist. Some cutting-edge hams had a vague idea of this thing called “resonance,” but didn’t really know how to implement it.
And yet, they worked the World.
Nowadays, the situation is pretty much reversed. A typical newly-licensed ham has more sophisticated radios and test equipment at their fingertips than the National Bureau of Standards had in the 1950’s, and yet can’t manage to get a signal out of his basement. What has gone wrong?
What has basically gone wrong is that we now have all the correct answers to the wrong questions! For example, most new hams are absolutely obsessed with this thing called SWR (or VSWR). If you haven’t heard of it, trust me, you will. SWR only became an issue when coaxial cable became commonplace. And yes, there is a certain importance to having a reasonably low SWR when using coaxial transmission lines, but for entirely different reasons than normally cited. Before coax cable became fairly universal, most hams had no way of even measuring SWR, even if any of them even had a reason to care...which they didn’t. And, and even if they did, in many cases a low SWR would have been highly undesirable!
SWR is like Radon gas. It’s just something to worry about while other people are accomplishing things.
Principle 5) You’re a lot smarter than you think. Never be intimidated by professionals or experts. They weren’t born that way. All they can really do is give you reasons why what you’re doing can’t possibly work.
Make it work, then, and only then...if you find it absolutely necessary to please some perceived expert...make it pretty.
First You Make it Work;
Then You Make it Pretty
A lot of new hams are susceptible to putting the cart before the hearse...er...horse. Your first “job” as a ham should be getting on the air and actually communicating with someone...and making a few mistakes in the process.
If you are like most of the current breed of new hams, you have been assaulted with all kinds of conflicting and contradictory advice, and no clue as to how to sort it all out. First of all, let me assure you, it’s not your fault. For the past generation or so, we have been invaded by marauding armies. Oddly enough, these are not Barbarians, Vikings, or even Communists. No, they are far more despicable than all three combined. These frightening aliens come under the name of “Professionals.” These are people who perceive their calling in life as doing your thinking for you. These compassionate souls want to take all the risk, uncertainty, and danger out of your life. In other words, they want to remove the fun from your life. They want to organize you, schedule you, and spoon-feed you regurgitated information. You’re probably already getting enough of this from your job. The very last thing you need in your life is for ham radio to become another job. (Now, ham radio may very well prepare you for a job, as we will discuss in detail in another chapter, but it should never become one.)
Once you recognize these “Professionals” for the true villains they are, your life will become so much simpler. Having an Elmer, as mentioned earlier, will go a long ways toward keeping your sanity through your “ham infancy.”
Now, I have been licensed for going on 40 years, and I learn something new from ham radio every day. Nobody is a greater advocate of getting an education from ham radio than yours truly. But that is a whole different thing than expecting to know it all before you get on the air! Yes, you certainly want to know enough to be legal; it’s no fun getting a “QSL” card from the FCC your first day out of the chute. And you don’t want to be known as a complete lid, even if you are officially legal. But none of these considerations should EVER stop you from getting on the air, making a lot of contacts, and having fun. You’ve already worked to hard to get here to accept anything less.
Now, throughout your ham radio career, you’re going to get some bad information...it’s inevitable with any hobby of this magnitude. Unfortunately, some of this misinformation seems to take on a life of its own, reproducing itself with incredible efficiency on the amateur bands.
What we will do in this chapter is give you the basic tools to determine all by your very own self if what someone tells you is true or not, when it comes to amateur radio “information.” If you pay close attention, you will never be at the mercy of some Professional’s opinion. The nice thing about this is that it applies to your world outside of ham radio, too!
Principle 1) All information is subject to experimentation.
It is truly staggering to hear many hams argue for years...or decades...about some pet amateur radio topic, and never EVER bother to try out the thing and see. Amateur radio is a scientific hobby, above all else. There are ways to prove or disprove electronics principles. Most controversies can be settled by a simple “Let’s build it and see.”
Principle 2) The repetition of bad information does not make it good information, no matter how often the process is repeated. This would seem to need no further explanation, but experience tells us this is not the case. So, this statement itself bears repetition. The repetition of bad information does not make it good information, no matter how often the process is repeated.
Now, THAT is something I can guarantee is GOOD information! Remember it! (And feel free to repeat it as necessary).
Principle 3) Assume everything you hear is a lie. Now, at first blush, this may seem to be the formula for cynicism. Actually, it’s the formula for progress. All increase in knowledge occurs when things “everyone knows” are questioned. The beauty of this is that experimentation usually proves Principle 3 to be the case. Of course, you should be open-minded enough to admit when some past truth actually DOES turn out to be true.
Principle 4) No information at all is usually better than the wrong information.
This one bears a bit of dissertation, with a real world example.
In the early days of radio, very few amateurs had any decent test equipment. Usually the only indication that their station was working at all was the fact that they were talking to someone across the country, or on the other side of the globe. Modern hams could probably take a cue from this. To paraphrase: “If it ain’t broke, don’t fix it.” The fact of the matter was that thousands of hams successfully talked around the world for decades without really having a clue what they were doing. “Whatever Works” was the order of the day. It wasn’t always pretty, but nobody cared. Radio communication was random, unpredictable, unfathomable, and totally wonderful, for precisely those reasons.
Antennas were probably the least understood part of any ham shack. They generally consisted of whatever pieces of wire one could put into the air. Coaxial cable hadn’t even been invented, or even remotely thought of. In fact, most hams didn’t use transmission lines at all, and if they did, it usually consisted of open wire feed line of any convenient spacing. Antenna theory as we know it didn’t exist. Some cutting-edge hams had a vague idea of this thing called “resonance,” but didn’t really know how to implement it.
And yet, they worked the World.
Nowadays, the situation is pretty much reversed. A typical newly-licensed ham has more sophisticated radios and test equipment at their fingertips than the National Bureau of Standards had in the 1950’s, and yet can’t manage to get a signal out of his basement. What has gone wrong?
What has basically gone wrong is that we now have all the correct answers to the wrong questions! For example, most new hams are absolutely obsessed with this thing called SWR (or VSWR). If you haven’t heard of it, trust me, you will. SWR only became an issue when coaxial cable became commonplace. And yes, there is a certain importance to having a reasonably low SWR when using coaxial transmission lines, but for entirely different reasons than normally cited. Before coax cable became fairly universal, most hams had no way of even measuring SWR, even if any of them even had a reason to care...which they didn’t. And, and even if they did, in many cases a low SWR would have been highly undesirable!
SWR is like Radon gas. It’s just something to worry about while other people are accomplishing things.
Principle 5) You’re a lot smarter than you think. Never be intimidated by professionals or experts. They weren’t born that way. All they can really do is give you reasons why what you’re doing can’t possibly work.
Make it work, then, and only then...if you find it absolutely necessary to please some perceived expert...make it pretty.