[Lowfer] Imperial versus metric measure (was MHz and mHz)

[John Davis]

Alberto is quite right about distinguishing between mHz and MHz, by a factor
of a billion to one!

Well, "American billion" at least.  That's another of those tricky
designations whose ambiguity can best be eliminated by using universally
accepted prefixes.  Giga, mega, kilo, milli and the rest are all worth
careful use.  Likewise, the distinction between kb and kB in the computing
world.

But I think much of the consternation over units on this side of the pond
arises because of sometimes having to re-learn names of familiar units.  I
appreciate the desirability of honoring pioneers in the science and
technology of our field, but I have to confess to some trouble myself
accepting Siemens in place of the good old intuitively recognizable mho as
the unit of conductivity.

What's worse, though, is how some such changes tend to cascade, forcing us
into whole new areas of technology.  That's what's uncomfortable for many
people.  As an example of what I mean, think back to the good old days when
a kilocycle was a kilocycle, and radios were glad of it!

But then, fashions changed, and we had to use those trendy new kilohertzes.
Well, look at all the changes that caused!  Suddenly, the Heaviside layer no
longer worked for long range communication.  We had to switch to bouncing
our signals off the ionosphere instead.  And because the ionosphere doesn't
respond as well to signals from Marconi or Hertzian aerials, we had to
switch to using monopole and dipole antennas.  And while those older aerials
were comfortable working with valves and tubes, according to one's personal
preferences, we were inevitably forced to invent transistors to gain maximum
benefit from the new-fangled antennas.

I'll tell you, it just seems to be a never-ending cycle.  Or is that a
never-ending Hertz?

73,
John