Mbuttive R&D jobs leaving the USA.... 406

On Sat, 19 Mar 2005, BMJ

Again...all part of the instant gratification mindset....

for

Since I got licensed (1959), the code test and written tests (theory and regulations) have seen their requirements diminish with time. Once, for the Amateur Extra Clbutt license (close to commercial licenses), one had a complex theory written exam and a 20 word per minute code test. Now, the theory test is watered down and you only need 5 wpm code test, and, not only that its multiple choice. In the old days you had to copy one minute out of five mintes perfect with no errors. 5 char per word, times 20 wpm, means a hundred characters with no errors.

Also, becoming a ham

You had to understand a fair bit of radio theory, antennas, standing wave ratios, radio propagation, and actually draw schematic diagrams.

nahhhhh.... we'll just import the power from India and China, now.

Drake once made the most popular and most practical tube gear ever designed.

Icom is still around, along with Kenwood and Yaesue.

I don't follow the SWL products, but I know they fell out of the Radio Shack catalogs. A decade or two ago...there were lots more SW radios in their catalogs.

We've got networked repeaters, here, too, but digi-peaters have all bit the dust. It was wild in 1985 or so, then petered out as the internet came in.

Still,

Oh, yeah, and more money, too.

Cable TV technicians? Oh, heck, forget that, too. They just find boards with burned out chips, and replace the whole board. I had that with our tleephone service, one of our lines went out. Callthe phone co, they come out, the guy comes back to me says "well, here's the board that caused the problem, heck if I know what the problem is, we just throw it out and put in a new board". Don't need a degree for that. Why go to college?