[BC] Cart machines

[Thomas G. Osenkowsky]

At one facility I have two Harris FM-5K's next to two Harris SX-1A's. On the
left we have tube technology and on the right we have tri-state logic
technology. While we have to embrace the technology of today and tomorrow,
we should also have a background in the technology of yesterday. Today we
have hand calculators that perform functions that in the distant past would
have taken a room full of tube gear. The other day I cashed in two recycle
coupons 35 cents each. When I handed them to the cashier with a quarter and
a nickel she had no idea why I was giving her coins! She said she had never
done that before. The register isn't programmed for that function.

When I took my private pilot check ride, my instructor told me not to do my
flight plan on a computer. Do it by hand. The reason? What if you were at an
airport and your laptop failed? You should know how to use the old fashioned
E6B manual calculator. It never needs batteries, all it needs is a pencil
with eraser. For the record, I have never used a GPS in an aircraft. A
current chart and a clean window have sufficed for me.

While modern technology has many benefits, relying on it can be a pitfall. I
don't know of many stations that have a CD library that can be pressed into
service if their automation system fails. I don't service one with a working
turntable, cart machine or reel-to-reel. It is nice to know how to operate
and service yesterday's technology. It gives you a background on how/why
today's technology is based on.

Tom Osenkowsky, CPBE

>While I see the point to keep history as a teaching tool, advanced
>schooling and the activities which surround the total education effort is
>to learn one's artcraft and interests for the future. Not to dwell on and
>yearn for the "good ole" past. Much the same as those of us schooled in the
>early 80's where many things today are far different than they were even
>then.