"William Sommerwerck" wrote:
Few people are born with a profound ability to understand things. Im
certainly not one of them. Ive learned a lot of things €” especially
about how to use the intelligence I have.
One thing Ive learned is that people €” any people, anywhere, any time €”
have great difficulty getting past what they believe to be true. €śI know
it, so it must be true. Dont disturb my complacency.€ť
Anyone with a disruptive point of view is usually rejected as a idiot
(qv, Swifts observation about €śa confederacy of dunces€ť). Unless, of
course, the person is a perceived expert. If anything Ive said had been
voiced by €śDoctor€ť Floyd Toole, it would have been accepted as gospel by
most of this group. The principle that €śtruth is truth€ť, regardless of
who says it, is something most people cannot understand. Nor is the
principle that one should understand //why// they believe or disbelieve
something, and be willing to periodically reconsider their beliefs.
The following is about how I solved a serious problem that stymied people
who knew more than I did.
My first real engineering job was with Bendix Field Engineering. Bendix
was a principal contractor for NASAs Spaceflight Tracking and
Data-acquisition Network (STDN or STADAN).
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Spacec...sition_Network
STDN used klystron transmitters to communicate with satellites and space
probes. These put out several kilowatts at around 2GHz. A klystron is a
traveling-wave tube, with multiple high-Q resonant cavities. These have
to be correctly tuned to get full power over a useful bandwidth. A single
band wasnt enough to cover all the frequencies NASA used. Retuning was often needed.
Retuning wasnt
Not too clear, me sitting in front of transmitter control, 1975 . Wasn't my
job.
http://www.zekfrivolous.com/goldstone/sub/18.jpg
Greg