On Mon, 14 Nov 2016 11:18:38 -0500, "Jim Wilkins"
wrote:

"Larry Jaques" wrote in message
.. .
On Mon, 14 Nov 2016 09:50:21 -0500, "Jim Wilkins"
wrote:

"Larry Jaques" wrote in message
...
On Mon, 14 Nov 2016 01:15:49 -0500, "Michael A. Terrell"
wrote:

DoN. Nichols wrote:

Well ... 25-pair cables *are* 50 wires, and the dots on solid
uniquely marked each wire in that count. (Aside from that, the
two
wires
in a pair were also twisted -- to minimize crosstalk to adjacent
pairs.)
The twisting helps keep them together so you don't have to
search
through 49 other wires to find the other half of a pair. :-)


Not only re he pairs twisted, but the twist rate varies from
pair to
pair to reduce the crosstalk even further.

They probably researched the hell out of that to end up with what
they
did. I'm sure digital/optical tech is even more heavily
researched
as
the 2.5Gbs trunks get over 40k conversations or 250 TV channels
simultaneously. (I'm sure it's much faster now.) Zimply Amazing.


The mathematics of communications theory is the most difficult
subject
I've tried to learn, worse than Thermodynamics or Nuclear Physics. A
good introduction is the encoding on a music CD:
https://www.usna.edu/Users/math/wdj/...s/reed-sol.htm

Each of those would seem to be a single-choice career. Pick one
tiny
section of one and devote your entire life to learning it. I hope
you
weren't doing all this concurrently. =:-0

Well, Chemistry isn't easy. It's a very broad field and they cover
enough to at least understand the explanations if you go into any area
of it.

I had one year of Organic Chemistry in high school, and I think over
1/3 of the class dropped out. I was happy with a B+.


The associated Physics courses taught electronic theory up
through waveguide propagation modes and DC and AC network analysis by
differential equations. One homework problem was to calculate the
capacitance between your hand and the planet Saturn.

What was the answer, a gazillion puff?


It was four full years of coursework and all summer in the lab on
research grants, no generalized Freshman and Sophomore years to "find
yourself" before choosing a major. I used Theatre to fulfill the

No comment.


Humanities requirement mainly because it was right across the street
and there was no homework or exams or socialist BS.

Yeah, campuses were evil cauldrons of socialism even back then,
weren't they?


Transmission line math is bad enough:
http://www.antenna-theory.com/tutori...ine.php#txline

Thankfully Mitre paid for and provided rooms with TVs, VCRs and
phone
links to local university night school courses in electrical
engineering so I could learn how to do my very challenging job.

That's a smart move on Mitre's part. How many hours/day were you
putting in at that point, between work and school learning+study?
16+?

On school nights it was up at 5AM, home after 9PM. On others I did
homework until I fell asleep, but I did manage to eat, do laundry and
maintain a solid 4.0 in all classes.

Rugged. Kudos on all that, BTW.

--
If government were a product,
selling it would be illegal.
--P.J. O'Rourke