[Ham-Computers] Re Upgrades Windows 98 And Spell Check

[Philip Atchley]

Hi Duane,

No, I never actually went out and got 'all' the schooling needed for a 
degree.  But I 'did' take every available course the USAF offered in 
Microwave and RF technology along with other related fields.  This got 
me into the "Scope Creek" program, which was a special team that 
traveled Europe Analyzing and optimizing Microwave and Tropo Scatter 
links and their associated Multiplex gear (the Scope Creek school alone 
was a technically  'intense' one).  When I retired, this "above average" 
background netted me a position as the "Microwave Standards Lab 
Engineer" at GD Pomona.  The MW metrology lab was responsible for ALL RF 
gear 1 GHz and above, long with quite a few items below that, like power 
meter and attenuator calibration, "Standard" Antenna characterizing 
etc.  The MW lab had a number of  RF Metrology technicians and the 
Engineer was responsible for overseeing/writing all calibration 
procedures making sure they met DOD requirements, check all math used in 
calibrations, assist technicians with unusual troubleshooting problems, 
recommend equipment upgrades (and research new gear), interface with 
Test Equip suppliers, attend seminar sessions offered by HP, Fluke, 
Tektronix,  etc.  All equipment calibration had to be traceable back to 
the Bureau of Standards.

Concerning the latter.  If new equipment was called for, and HP gear was 
recommended, it was almost automatic that it would be approved.  If 
another brand like Marconi or Wavetek etc was more suited to the task it 
took more work to get it approved.  Hmm, I wonder if there was an "in" 
there somewhere.

I would have called it more of a "Super-tech" position since it didn't 
require an actual degree, but my official title was "Standards Lab 
Engineer".  It was far more technically oriented than most tech jobs as 
there was a LOT of precision math, proper measurement techniques etc 
involved.  But I quit the position after about 18 Months. I highly 
enjoyed the work, but I was very sick and tired of commuting in that 
parking lot called the LA freeway system.  It wasn't at all unusual to 
drive almost an hour to work,  put in 12-16+ hours or more,  get home 
late, be back on the freeway 6:30 the next morning, then get stuck in a 
freeway jam on the way home! 

To keep this OT, most of the various product test stations were all CAT 
(Computer aided testing) controlled, most via what was/is generically 
called the HPIB bus.  All this required programming for each test 
station for the particular product.  There were people who their only 
job was to write these programs to perform the tests according to DOD 
needs.  I didn't get into that except when the software writer couldn't 
make a particular piece of test gear perform as expected.  Then I would 
have to help determine why the generator or whatever wasn't performing 
properly.  This was sometimes due to the test gear not actually designed 
for the app, typically trying to use a piece of "on hand" gear for a new 
task.  But all this computer control was the reason that Pomona put on 
the big push for all engineers to become computer literate. 

The singer Disk drives were a little different in the way they did  
their (I think about 1.2MB)  floppy. It was a variable speed affair.  As 
it read or wrote to the floppy you could hear it actually change speeds 
and "wind up" while running.  Not the usual constant speed.  Very odd!  
It's been over 20 years so the exact specs elude me.

73 de Phil  KO6BB

Duane Fischer wrote:

>Phil,
>
>I knew you worked on microwave equipment for your USAF career, but I never knew
>you had a degree in Engineering or that you were a true "engineer".
>
>many companies offered double sided diskettes using 720K per side. I had no
>knowledge this was unusual. Maybe if you bought a machine it was not the default,
>but I knew many who ordered a machine built that way.
>
>Perhaps Singer was doing it before other companies.
>
>  
>