[Yaesu] Re: [Kenwood] Operator's manuals today

[Darrell Drake]

John.....
    I think the line in your last paragraph sums it up...."wonder if this is
saying something about the
competency of hams today versus in years past".
And judging from some of the questions which have been asked, and statements
made, on this and other reflectors, I'm led to believe that to some of
today's "hams", the new style manuals are still not simple enough.
Darrell,
VA3DG/VE3DDG

> Has anyone else noticed a change in the level that
> Operator's manuals are written at today?  I have
> recently picked up a few older pieces of equipment
> here and there, and the manuals from 15-20 years ago
> are a world of difference from todays.
>
> The older manuals would first thank you for purchasing
> the equipment, and had circuit descriptions, block
> diagrams, alignment procedures sometimes, and were
> generally written at a high level.
>
> Todays manuals look like they are written for the
> under 70 IQ crowd.  They have cartoon figures.  They
> usually have a "your first QSO" section which really
> insults your intelligence.  It is written like we
> wouldn't know how to turn on a radio, tune in a
> frequency, and push the mic button without being
> guided through it step by step.  There are no circuit
> descriptions, alignment procedures, or block diagrams
> anymore.
>
> Now part of this might be cost, in that the
> manufacturers want to cheapen the cost of manuals and
> save all of that stuff for the service manual, but I
> also wonder if this is saying something about the
> competency of hams today versus in years past.  If it
> has changed that much, the last thing we need to do is
> make the licensing procedures any easier.
>
> Just an interesting observation.
>
> 73s John NE0P