Who are you? The new Number Two. Who is Number One? You are Number Six I am not a number, I am a free man! (laughter)
Which is why I listen intently before ever joining any radio conversation. And I never have any preconceived opinions or notions about anybodies appearance or personality except for one aspect. Whether they are lying or not. One thing I've learned by listening is that there are a few people out there that don't have a clue as to what they are even talking about. And another thing you'll learn from listening is often those persons will be lying their butts off so much, it's not even funny. An operator may pose a question, say about a radio component. One usually knows to google most questions or call a trusted technician, right? Yet there are those people that are suddenly as much a whiz at radios and their components as Nikolas Tesla was to the electric motor. And feel they deserve the next Nobel prize in electronics I'm sure. I often won't comment at all, and just move to another frequency. Like in the real world, the radio world has all kinds as well. There are some who believe Tesla evented the automobile. They believe this because Elon Musk put a Tesla roadster into space. I heard this once in listening to a ragchew on 80 meters. Incidentally the same guy was telling the others that NASA was owned by this Musk guy. I wanted so bad to give a comment, but didn't. I am only a tech after all. I must admit though that I often find it difficult in trying not to picture Otis Campbell or Jethro Bodine in my head.
I don't know Burt, the smart man in me says never ask for more than what you are prepared to lose. Unless one is prepared to get the crap beat out of them, discretion is the better part of valor. There are enough people in the world who need a lesson in humility without adding to the list. Every few months I have to deal with some idiot who wants to road rage at me while im working rather than speak to me polity. I am a nice person, so i point out to them how stupid they are being, because someone not as nice as me might break their nose. They soon see the error of their ways and speak to me with respect. Like i said, never bite off more than you are prepared to have the stuffing beat out of you. Because one day it wont be a nice guy you call out, it will be some psychopath who is going to beat the crap out of you. Some things and some people are just not worth it.
Indeed...but there's more! What you're hearing usually isn't "lying" (intentionally saying something that the speaker knows isn't true, in order to deceive the listener). Much if not most of what you're hearing is people saying what they really think and believe, even though it is dead wrong and can be proven to be wrong. They're saying things that aren't true but they aren't lying because they really believe what they say. And when you prove them wrong, they often get angry. Many will cling to their untruths even more fiercely. Some will say "that's just your opinion!" or similar, even about things that are objective facts. This behavior is related to Dunning-Kruger Effect. A classic Amateur Radio example is why we amateurs use LSB on 160, 75 and 40 meter SSB, but USB everywhere else. It's a tradition that goes way back, and there's an urban myth which claims to explain the origin. And like many myths, there's a bit of truth to it, but also lots of fiction. The true part of the myth is that, in the early days of amateurs using SSB, a popular design of transmitter used a 9 MHz SSB generator and a 5 MHz VFO. When the 9 MHz SSB signal was mixed with the signal from the 5 MHz VFO, you got 75 meter SSB by subtractive mixing and 20 meter SSB by additive mixing. And there were such transmitters. But the part that's fiction is that such a scheme inverts the sideband on one band but not the other. Often specific transmitters are given as examples. But....it's just not true, and all one has to do is a bit of math to show it cannot be true. Sideband inversion from frequency conversion just doesn't work that way; inversion ONLY happens when the VFO frequency is higher than both the input and output frequencies. A transmitter with 5 MHz SSB generator and 9 MHz VFO will invert the sideband on 75 but not 20. But a transmitter with a 9 MHz SSB generator and 5 MHz VFO will not. I have encountered this myth many times (even in amateur radio magazines!) and correct it whenever I see it. And there's usually someone who simply cannot accept the proof that it's not true. One ham here got very upset when I told him the truth, because his Elmer had told him the myth, and he'd believed it for decades, and his Elmer knew more about radio than anybody. 73 de Jim, N2EY
Some emphatically defend their statements by claiming “I’ve been a (position of expertise) for 50 years so I know what I’m talking about!” All this could mean is that they’ve been dead wrong about things for half a century.
A more interesting question might be: Not sure how many people here will get this one but, there you are.
I am he as you are he as you are me and we are all together See how they run like pigs from a gun, see how they fly I'm crying Sitting on a cornflake, waiting for the van to come Corporation tee-shirt, stupid bloody Tuesday Man, you been a naughty boy, you let your face grow long I am the eggman, they are the eggmen I am the walrus, goo goo g'joob.
That's a form of the logical fallacy "Appeal To Authority". -- Some people have 40 years experience. Some people have 1 year experience 40 times.
Someone posting in a forum using insults is hardly one I would be concerned about being violent (unless he had been a US Marine). Many years ago several hams threatened me with being physical if I came to a New Hampshire hamfest. I told them I would be wearing a yellow raincoat (it was sunny), never heard a peep. Those that post insults remind me of the Wizard of Oz.
