I was rather reluctant to post that message because I
realize that we are all individuals. I thought I was terrible in
math, also until I began to understand all the graphical
information that originally seemed like so much noise. I am
certainly glad I know Braille and I am glad I kept with the math
and didn't give up because I eventually began making fairly decent
grades in math, not excellent, but well enough to finish 6 hours
of technical calculous which I needed for the two-year degree in
electronics and computer technology. I thought I was going to
teach basic electronics in our vocational/technical system back
in the seventies and then I discovered these newfangled things
called microcomputers to distinguish them from main frames that,
at the time was what people meant when they said the word
"computer."
When you are a student who is blind, there are lots of
well-meaning but ignorant people who, if you listen to them,
will steer you right in to the worst job in the world if you
aren't careful.
Looking back over 40 years, the only thing I regret is
not knowing enough at the time to be more firm about what I
wanted out of life.
Amateur radio is a great way to stitch the rest of the
world together so that instead of learning a bunch of facts that
you will forget sooner than later, you learn how things relate
to one another.
Physicists call this the grand unified theory and they
haven't found it quite yet, but here is an example of the sort
of thing I am talking about.
We learn in ham radio about antennas and feed lines and
a lot of what we learn seems like black magic and we take it on
faith. The name of the game is resonance or at least making it
so that our transmitter transfers the maximum amount of energy
from the final to the antenna so that we can warm the hearts of
the pigeons above while we fruitlessly call CQ on ten.
The idea is to get rid of the capacitive and inductive
reactance such that our antenna looks like pure resistance at
the frequency we want to use.
Well, we have to tune the transmitter to the load at any
frequency, even 60 hertz or 50 in most of the world.
Yes, the generators on the power grid work like a huge
transmitter pumping countless megawatts in to the load which
consists of all those power transformers and every electronic
gadget from cell phone chargers to elevator motors and street
lamps.
All across the world, electric companies monitor the
power coming out of the generators and compare it with the load.
In Winter, the load is different than it is in Summer because in
Summer, we have more motors on line as air conditioners try to
cool us all down.
Motors are highly inductive and their presence throws a
phase shift in to the power grid which acts like more resistance
and makes the generators have to work harder to deliver the same
power. It is just like high SWR on your antenna and needs a
tuner to fix things.
So, every Spring, just like the daffodils and birds,
the capacitors come out of Winter storage. Power company workers
switch them on to the line to tune the load back to a 1:1 SWR
because we just waste energy if we don't do something about the
problem.
In the Fall, along with the leaves falling off the
trees, the technicians start disconnecting the capacitors as
people turn off their air conditioners.
Don't even get me started talking about negative
feedback loops. We learn about them in amateur radio when
building amplifiers and you will soon discover that they rule
the universe.
Well, enough of this. Those of you new to the hobby, I
hope you stay curious. I just can't imagine amateur radio
without the heavy learning factor. I probably would have let my
license lapse decades ago if I thought it was just contests and
rag-chews on two meters.
In case some of you wonder, I did my college years sort
of wrong-side-out. I wanted to do electrical engineering but let
well-meaning but ignorant advisors talk me in to journalism and
broadcasting instead. I worked for two years and then went back
and got a Master's degree in adult education. I went to work
again and while working, finished the two-year electronics
program in about 8 years, a little bit at a time.
It works a lot better if you know what you want and
don't take no for an answer.
Martin WB5AGZ
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