Worth of amateur radio for RF engineering careers (article) - Page 1
Forum section: electronics / rf-microwave

author: vk3yedotcom
author_rank: Frequent Contributor
timestamp: February 28, 2021, 12:10:31 am
content: Great article just written by Grant Willis.Amateur radio provides RF educational benefits increasingly not provided on the job.https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/amateur-radio-relevance-modern-rf-engineering-careers-grant-willisIt's the first of a series so look out for more!

author: bob91343
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: February 28, 2021, 12:29:08 am
content: While the article is interesting, it only skirts the issue of lack of technical prestige. Throughout my many years in engineering, I found a definite disdain for amateur radio. Part of it was justified due to the wide spectrum of technical ability that represents the hobby, but that was, I feel, throwing out the baby with the bath water.Ham radio taught me a lot that helped me in engineering.

author: xmo
author_rank: Regular Contributor
timestamp: February 28, 2021, 04:59:43 am
content: Bob makes a good point. Way back in the day, RF professionals would proudly mention their call sign. Later - not so much.I think it all changed with the advent of no code licenses and repeaters with autopatch. Whole families would get licensed and use repeaters and autopatch as a sort of wide area FRS.That's all gone with the migration to wireless services, but there was a decline in technical capabilities of the 'average' ham and the impression of ham radio in the professional community. I still see that many RF professionals are cautions about revealing that they are licensed until they know the person they are talking to.

author: bob91343
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: February 28, 2021, 06:09:55 am
content: While that is basically true, the disdain for ham radio operators predates all the repeater and HT era. I encountered it as far back as the 1950s. It's a sort of snobbery.For my ham exam I remember drawing schematic diagrams and calculating frequency tolerances, stuff that would challenge most of today's licensees. Nonetheless, that disdain perhaps arises from the casual methods of homebrew construction and common soldering sloppiness. I built my first kit in about 1946 at a tender age and my workmanship was less than professional.

author: Kerlin
author_rank: Regular Contributor
timestamp: February 28, 2021, 09:22:02 am
content: Yep for sure, agree with the majority and what is mentioned in the article.In my professional RF career I have found a definite, clear disdain for amateur radio.I hold five other licences with the ACMA and many other trade licences as well as heaps of University qualifications.Never been clear why but they hate that amateur license, in all areas of RF I have worked in - Five years in each -Television Broadcast industry, Defence, Avionics, RF calibration laboratory. I know because they tell me so.Other electronics non RF areas I have worked in have never heard of it.

author: ogden
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: February 28, 2021, 12:17:13 pm
content: It is function of rapid progress, increasing complexity of communication equipment, narrow specialization of engineers. Today HAMs are buying their radios anyway, many do not even build antennas. How knowledge of HF ionospheric propagation, sleepless nights of repetitive long range radio calls can teach anything that relates to modern RF electronics of let's say mobile phones and their base stations? No offense, but IMHO today amateur radio operator license is helping same way as license of steam engine operator

author: A.Z.
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: February 28, 2021, 12:58:51 pm
content: maybe I'm wrong, but as I see it the "disdain" about ham licensees is just a consequence if the fact that, contrarily to specialized engineers, which only look at a problem from a given (limited) angle, Hams, which "touched things with their hands" look at them from several different perpectives and offer (good, real world) solutions to them, which would otherwise cost $$$$ in consultants and so on... and each for a SINGLE aspect of a problem, so ... if a Ham kicks in, there are less $$$$ to divide between the parties; maybe I'm wrong, but I believe that the "follow the money" approach is usually a good one

author: ogden
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: February 28, 2021, 02:14:14 pm
content: I disagree that HAM license is indication ofRFknowledge. There are full spectrum of HAMs - from beginners asking basic questions till exceptionally bright and smart people publishing articles in EE journals. Today when anybody can get pair of decent ISM transceivers with antennas for less than a beef burger, I do not see any particular gain from getting HAM license, other than becoming member of coolcommunity. As an employer I would ask for actual experience like "tell me more about that thing you built out of cheap RF modules" rather than "do you have HAM license".