The Price of Progress

[_sanityassassin]

I have spent a lot of time today studying for my GROL (General Radiotelephone Operator License) today. It's an FCC license that mostly deals with ocean going vessels' radio communication, but also has some applications in aviation. My company will give me a .75 cent/hour raise with this certification, so that is the primary reason I am working on

Comments

[invertedsky]

"All of these "barriers" that we had back then, acted as a good filter to keep retards [out]"

Seriously.

I never got very good at Morse code. But I had a ham radio for several years and listened to other people talking around the country. I used a only wire around the perimeter of my room for an antenna. And being in San Diego, it was a challenge to hear somebody on the east coast. I never bothered to get my license because I was too shy to talk to anybody because they were all old guys and I was just a kid.

On my scanner, I could pick up the 2 meter band and listen to people talking from their cars.

And now my dad is building an airplane and he is putting in all the lastest gps autopilot and such.

[_sanityassassin]

The modern avionics available to private pilots is quite amazing, and pretty cool. As far an antennas go, I know all about stealthy antennas. I set up a few when I was in the military.

Morse code isn't that hard to learn. It just takes a little time. You can learn to copy at 5WPM in a months time by listening to the code tapes 30 minutes a day. After that, you can increase your speed just by listening to actual code on the air.

They dropped the code requirements for a few reasons. One, it's not used that much anymore. Two, the # of active hams has dropped so much in the last 10 years, the powers that be thought it was the only way to get new blood in. I have an HF radio in the truck, but I hardly use it. I'm not saying that everyone who doesn't know code is a retard. But, since the requirement of knowing morse code has been eliminated, there are a lot more people on the air that make ham radio sound like CB.

[hopelessart]

Ya know, I don't completely understand all your technical aspects of aviation and transmission radios, but it is very familiar when you speak of changes in technology in general. When you speak of 12 years ago, gosh that seems so long ago. I am going through simuliar issues when technology and photography collide. I learned to work an all manual camera and process to the print in the darkroom. I am now and have been in my classes running into "photographers" that no nothing of photography, but the digital world. I can appreciate this advancement, but just cause you know or can purchase a high tech digital camera doesn't nessecarily mean that that you are a "photographer". The field extends further than what technology has brought forth. When you process film, you have that anxiety or surprise of what you are gonna get back. With digital, there is sudden and instant gratification. No suspense or wonder. Therefore I appreciate film for many different attributes. Which brings me to this quote that I think you will appreciate