[BC] need a NON-technical explanation

[Ron Youvan]

Donna Halper wrote:

> This may be an old-radio query, but I know some of you are hams so perhaps you can help me explain something.  I am finishing up my dissertation for my PhD after all these years (I always wanted a Doctorate, and you're never too old to study something new) and am struggling with how to explain in non-technical terms why radio stations of the 1920s moved away from using meters and embraced the term "kilocycles".  (I know they did it beginning in 1923, and it basically seems to have become fait accompli by around 1927.)  I believe hams still use meters, do they not?

   Originally the "frequency" of signals was measured with a "Lecher lines or
Lecher wires" setup.

See:  /en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lecher_lines

   Where two closely spaced wires were run out of the building for 200 or 500 meters
as required and by sliding a conductive bar that bridges the two wires along their length, the 
length of the waves can be physically measured.  (wavelength)
But 1/wavelength = frequency (1/frequency = wavelength) and ways to measure the frequency
more directly (and without requiring all of that real estate) were developed.

   See:  en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Absorption_wavemeter

   Remember the wavemeters could be calibrated (at the factory) with a Lecher wire setup.
Now we can directly count the "frequency" directly with digital electronics. (and much more)

-- 
Ron KA4INM