OBSERVATIONS    GM1SXX          22 September 2010

I'm always interested in the way things evolve over time. Amateur Radio has evolved quite a bit since I got my ticket in 1985. I'm not sure the changes have all been for the better, An example is the way in which the radio amateur exams are now taught and the symbolism that's used.  Most radio amateurs are familiar with the symbols in general use, such as a zig-zag line to represent a resistor, two parallel lines to represent a capacitor and so on.   The newcomer to amateur radio is being taught to sing from a different hymnbook, where a common resistor becomes an empty rectangular box and a varicap diode is shown as two components, and not one.  These changes are being forced upon us by the RCE/RCF who administer the UK exam system.  Change over time is a rather obvious effect of 'progress'.  What is of concern to me is that these 'new' symbols, which are actually pretty old, are not in common use, although of course I'm sure the RCE/RCF *want* them to be.   The end result of this is that we are teaching exam candidates 'facts' that will not serve them well in the real world.

Out of personal interest, I rummaged through one year's issues for both RADCOM and Practical Wireless, two major UK radio-orientated periodicals.  In checking all of the schematics presented over two years by two magazines, I discovered only a couple of IEC type symbols. (Shame on you George Dobbs!)  It begs the question of course... why bother trying to change what is already universally accepted symbolism?  I happen to teach the amateur radio exam material but it pains me that our national examining body forces students to use symbols that are not in common usage in preference to the symbols that are in common use.   I actually teach the students both the IEC and standard electronic symbols, but of course I emphasize that for RCE exam puposes, the standard symbols will be considered 'wrong' in any exam they will sit.   This at least makes their new-found 'knowledge' somewhat more useful in the real world. For anyone still awake, IEC standard 60617 and ANSI standard 315 are where to start on your quest for 'greater enlightenment'.  For anyone else, squiggly resistors and a diode and capacitor drawn as a single symbol, for a varicap,  remain king.

The squiggly resistor and 'sensible' varicap of course are but two of many symbols that The RCE/RCF, ANSI and IEC would rather we didn't use.  In fact should you choose them in an exam  question, and I have the great displeasure of marking that exam, I'd be duty-bound to mark you wrong, despite what the 'real world' thinks. It's not a lot different from the other RCE/RCF fiasco of having to mark 'Cycles Per Second' wrong as a unit of frequency measurement (see my earlier posting).

I extended my search for IEC components in schematics well outside the amateur radio arena. I only discovered a couple of companies that use these symbols and both are manufacturers of electronic kits.  One is Velleman which I think is Belgian and the other is Quasar Electronics in the UK.   Outside of that, from my experience of electronics and kit building over 25 years, these symbols are *still* a rarity. It's not good when our exam system has degenerated into mere nit-picking , rather than asking genuinely searching questions.  IMO it's not fair to the students.