MATH’S NOTES

The new year is upon us and to paraphrase an old expression, “this is the future, today, that you dreamed about in the past.” What have you done to get to this point regarding amateur radio? Have your hopes and dreams regarding radio actually been fulfilled?

I would like to start the column this month with somewhat of a continuation of last month’s column. You will remember that I suggested looking ahead but now, along those lines, I would like to share a story or two.

I once had a technician who was a very up-to-date individual (or so he the size and, of course, solid state. My tech indicated that he could not really make a proper measurement right away since the digital scope was in use by another engineer. “I would get a much better look at the wave shape with the new scope” was his excuse. “Solid-state devices are far superior to, ugh, old-fashioned vacuum tube-based instruments,” he continued.