I’ve just been reflecting on some of the equipment and procedures we used when I was in the Army.
We as a species may be getting dumber, or maybe not. But the people I worked with were bright. The tools they had were quite primitive by comparison to what is available today.
They were adequate to the task assigned, however; else they would have been designed differently, n’est-ce-pas?
I am impressed that we were able to do what we were able to do.
I wonder why we stopped being that way.
Prolly ‘cause ingenious excellence is not politically correct. We must all strive for mundane homogeneity..
Back in the day most Hams built their own stuff, often repurposing surplus military radios. My HS Physics teacher had a bunch of such gear. Now they go to the corner store...
I worked on getting my Ham ticket but never managed to get to the minimum 5 wpm in Morse for the Novice. Probably ‘cause after HS I had other distractions that put pounding brass on the wayback burner.
Now you can get a Ham license without a code requirement..
In our day you were encouraged to understand how the technology worked before you were asked to keep it working.
Not so much today.