[AMRadio] vintage amateur radio station

[Paul Christensen]

> Perhaps the biggest difference is the level of the English language used 
> by "...the common man" back then---we sure have dumbed-down as a literate 
> society in the succeeding years...

Grammatical accuracy and command of the language was significantly better 
back then as (arguably) greater emphasis was placed on the three "Rs."  In 
fact, some material is so grammatically correct, it can be difficult to 
comprehend.  The same holds true of the spoken word.  I have a copy of the 
official recorded transcript of the first National ARRL Convention,  held in 
Chicago during the fall of 1921.  The speakers' use of diversified 
vocabulary reads as if they had written their words with forethought, but it 
was all free-form.  Matty Mathews, 9ZN, was toastmaster of the event.  I 
wish I had a fraction of his public speaking skills.

As you look through the QST editorials and letters to the editor, some of 
the same issues were pervasive back then: Code proficiency, spectrum 
management, operating behavior, poor signal quality were as much of an issue 
eighty years ago as they are today.

Paul, W9AC