Radio and Electronics (Part 2 of 12)

The first thing he taught me was Ohm’s Law. It’s quite simple, really. After we had practiced it a few times, Dad said, “That’s all you need to know to be an electrical engineer.” And then he added, “Plus four year of college.” Many years later I went uptown to Dad’s office. I was in the next room while he was interviewing a young man for an engineering assistant job. The young man was still in college and Dad asked him, “What is Ohm’s Law?” The young man fumbled for the words and then admitted, “That’s something that I remember hearing in one of my electronics classes, but I can’t recall the details, right now.” After the interview, Dad returned to the room I was in, just shaking his head and rolling his eyes.
The next thing he taught me was the development of the radio receiver in the 1920s. He finally showed me the superheterodyne which is still the basis for any radio today. Then he explained single side band which was the life-blood, almost, for radio amateurs. It was a great thing for my Dad to explain electronics principles to me. He was extremely busy and his time was very limited, but when he spoke to me it was as if I were tuned into a direct channel of electronics knowledge. It was later said of Dad, “He was a true expert in a field that has very few true experts.” His love became my love and electronics was the neatest thing I could study.