Funny question from youngster - Videokarma.org TV - Video

electroking · #1 02-20-2009, 05:09 PM

Hello all,

I work at a University research lab, and this week I was telling
a graduate E. E. student of the fact that sometime later this
year will mark 50 years since the first pictures from the
dark side of the moon were transmitted by a Russian probe.
I was telling him of the fact that there was film and chemistry
on board and that the developed pictures were transmitted
by FM radio. Then he asked me : 'do you mean that pictures
have ever been transmitted by non-digital techniques'?

I had to tell him that for a few more weeks in the U.S., and
a few more years in Canada, such 'non-digital' signals were indeed
being used to transmit not only pictures, but even pictures with
motion!...

Sandy G · #2 02-20-2009, 05:17 PM

When I brought Bethany & her sister, Shay, over here one of the 1st times, I played an LP for them. Their eyes got big as saucers, they'd NEVER seen a record....REALLY flipped 'em out when I put a 78 on the Victrola, cranked it up & let fly...the Vic became Bethany's favorite thing to play with when she came over here-it absolutely
FASCINATED her...Even now, if she brings one of her friends, she'll show off the Vic...

Kyle85318531 · #3 02-20-2009, 06:16 PM

The first time I had all my mates from school over to my house...

NONE of them knew what a record was.

Sad truth.

They were mesmerised by the experience.

Ky

zenith2134 · #4 02-20-2009, 06:29 PM

My friends all know what a record is, but thats probably due to my ramblings about audio.

Carmine · #5 02-21-2009, 06:57 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by electroking

Hello all,

this week I was telling
a graduate E. E. student .... he asked me : 'do you mean that pictures
have ever been transmitted by non-digital techniques'?

I sure hope he isn't top of the class.

julianburke · #6 02-21-2009, 07:27 PM

Like the two young boys (15-16 year old) that were at a hamfest and found a military telephone and thought it was a radio. I told them it was a field phone and that it was connected to another like it along with WIRES. They looked at each other like I was from another world and said "WIRES?? ARE YOU SURE??"
I always like to use this one when I give presentations on the history of radio and TV!

Trance88 · #7 02-22-2009, 12:23 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Kyle85318531

The first time I had all my mates from school over to my house...

NONE of them knew what a record was.

Sad truth.

They were mesmerised by the experience.

Ky

Don't these kids have parents? Chances are their parents were born in the 70's and 60's and must have grown up with records or had some. What did they do? Dump them just before the the kids were born?

electroking · #8 02-23-2009, 02:19 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Carmine

I sure hope he isn't top of the class.

Well, do you think that NTSC color signals will even be mentioned in
introductory communications textbooks published five years from now?
I'm not so sure. Historical perspective has never been the strong side
of engineering education in North America as far as I can tell.

Sandy G · #9 02-23-2009, 02:37 PM

It's a HOOT to click on my '48 7" Bakelite Admiral, or the '47 3" Pilot & astound kids..."They had TV way back then ?!? Wow...."

zenith2134 · #10 02-23-2009, 02:41 PM

How about a console set with turntable built-in? That astounds a lot of people, young and old.

wa2ise · #11 02-23-2009, 04:00 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Carmine

I sure hope he isn't top of the class.

Double E education tends to be very heavy on math (calculus) and basic theory, and things like analog NTSC television would not be mentioned. Things like circuit analysis, with Bode plots, poles and zeros, Laplace and Fourier transforms, semiconductor physics, and lately digital signal processing. Nothing really "practical". So he could be at the top of his class. Straight A's but not know which end of a soldering iron to grab...

Oh, vacuum tubes were briefly mentioned in my semiconductor physics class, as the prof described the energy levels (essentially voltage) of electrons as they go past the various grids. Then the prof says "lets fill in the vacuum with silicon atoms, with a few other atoms to either give extra electrons or holes (missing electrons)"...

I had to take 5 semesters of calculus in EE, and had to know how to integrate strange stuff like csc x^4/((tan^3)-1) dx. I could solve exam problems like that well enough to pass, but I never did figure out how to actually apply calculus to a real world problem and have any confidence that I didn't screw it up...

electroking · #12 02-23-2009, 04:12 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by wa2ise

Double E education tends to be very heavy on math (calculus) and basic theory, and things like analog NTSC television would not be mentioned. Things like circuit analysis, with Bode plots, poles and zeros, Laplace and Fourier transforms, semiconductor physics, and lately digital signal processing. Nothing really "practical". So he could be at the top of his class. Straight A's but not know which end of a soldering iron to grab...

Oh, vacuum tubes were briefly mentioned in my semiconductor physics class, as the prof described the energy levels (essentially voltage) of electrons as they go past the various grids. Then the prof says "lets fill in the vacuum with silicon atoms, with a few other atoms to either give extra electrons or holes (missing electrons)"...

I had to take 5 semesters of calculus in EE, and had to know how to integrate strange stuff like csc x^4/((tan^3)-1) dx. I could solve exam problems like that well enough to pass, but I never did figure out how to actually apply calculus to a real world problem and have any confidence that I didn't screw it up...

Hi wa2ise,

I agree with you that soldering skills are not usually part of the curriculum,
but I remember taking Introductory Communications in 1983 and the
instructor (a pioneer of digital communications theory) used the NTSC
color standard as a clever example of the application of Fourier analysis,
with the gaps in the B&W video spectrum used to transmit color
information while maintaining compatibility with existing receivers and
not increasing bandwidth significantly.

As for your lack of self confidence while in school, I can relate to that,
but I trust you have more than made up for it in the following years!
On the other hand, lack of mathematical skills is something very hard
to compensate for when the need arises and you just dont have the
analytical tools in your brain.

Wasn't it fun to integrate cos(ax)*exp(bx) by integrating by parts
twice, getting back to the original integrand and then solving a simple
algebraic equation?

Carmine · #13 02-23-2009, 04:47 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by electroking

Well, do you think that NTSC color signals will even be mentioned in
introductory communications textbooks published five years from now?
I'm not so sure. Historical perspective has never been the strong side
of engineering education in North America as far as I can tell.

Um... I'm thinking more along the lines that we have been hearing nothing BUT news stories and PSA's about the "digital switch". Now granted, Canada won't kill analog until 2012 (I think?) but this EE grad student has no idea that broadcast TV exists, and no concept of the radio spectrum?
I'm no EE, but even when I was 10 I knew what radio waves were, and had some idea of modulation, as opposed to a digital 010101010 signal.

It's not like non-digital transmission of pictures just stopped! It's still happening... That's like a young mechanic trained on hybrids saying "you mean cars used to run on gasoline?"