Southgate News has a link on this subject. When I was in the RF business most RF engineers were getting older and close to retirement. There were few RF engineers coming through leading to a crisis in the near future. A shortage of RF engineers is a real issue in any nation. In my youth, RF was magic: these days it is not seen this way.
See http://www.southgatearc.org/news/2016/july/looming-rf-engineering-age-crisis.htm .
UPDATE 1512z: In a recent look in our local shop I counted 15 train magazines, but not a single radio magazine. No, RF (radio frequency) is not the magic it once was. When there are as many radio magazines as train magazines RF will again be seen as interesting! It goes without saying that gaming and PC mags are everywhere.
Problem is. the infrastructure for engineers in UK is now gone. No more Pye or Philips, ITT(UK) etc. Even in Chelmsford, Marconi are pretty much dead, only e2v left: a legacy of bad management and poor government forsight.
ReplyDeleteI know many excellent British RF engineers... problem is they have relocated to Germany and USA. G6AIG (British RF enginner in Paris, designing for Germany)
p.s. fortunately Genetic Engineering seems to be still a British stronghold.
In my youth, electronic equipent was repaired when it failed. Today it is thrown away because it is cheaper to buy new stuff than to repair it. Second, most development is done in cheap labour countries, so there has been a significant loss of knowledge in the RF field. And not only knowledge: usually depreciated equipment found it's way to amateurs that otherwise could not afford the equipment. That is no more the case. And even if you are interested in RF (or just electronics), most radio parts stores are long gone. We're a dying breed...
ReplyDeletePA3CNO - Most radio parts stores long gone? There's 100's on line though, what do you mean? ;-)
ReplyDeleteTony
Tony,
ReplyDeleteexactly that. If I needed something for an experiment, I hopped on my bike and got it at the local radio store. There were at least 10 of them in my city. Now, if you want a couple of resistors, you have to order them on line as you suggest, pay the shipping cost for every darn component you forgot or blew up, and wait a couple of days for it to arrive. Not very stimulating when you're experimenting.
Frank