Memories. Ahhh Yes, Memories of My Life

Only 40 Minutes?

PROMPT July 4th

What could you give a 40-minute presentation on with absolutely no preparation?

         Most people on WDC who know me, know I deliver classes for my employer. I am accustomed to speaking in front of a crowd, and welcome a challenge from listeners. Why? Well, I guess I will bang my own drum here, and say, "I know A LOT." About a myriad of subjects too. I'm confident, knowledgeable, and comfortable in my element. Right now, I teach about 15 different classes for Motorola Solutions. They all revolve around topics for RF Systems (2-way radio). That may not sound like much at first. But consider for a moment that in today's world, state-wide systems are used, with the Radio sites connected via an IP Network. And yes, I teach Networking, as it applies to our systems. I also teach a class on basic RF Theory, handheld & mobile (car mounted) radios, radio programming, repeaters (larger radios mounted at those radio sites), and to many more to mention here without sounding completely ego stricken. (I may already sound that way. Forgive me if I do).

         I said I welcome challenges from students, but keep in mind that when I started this job (at the ripe old age of 46), all I knew about radios (commonly called Radio Frequency, or RF), is that AM means Amplitude Modulation, and FM means Frequency Modulation. The man who hired me said that if I could teach, they would teach me RF. It's been almost 20 years now, so I must have learned something. To welcome a challenge, you have to be confident. Many of my students have twice the time in the RF field, so it's a challenge to speak at their level. But teaching the number of classes I do, with the variety of subjects covered, means I've read an awful lot of technical documentation to learn things. Plus, I've reviewed/edited quite a few courses, so I've done things a lot of them haven't. I welcome questions, because if I don't know the answer, I'll learn from them. In the beginning, I did a lot of learning from students. I still learn from them. They learn a lot more from me now. Please, give me 40 minutes, with five minutes to get my LCD projector setup, my laptop powered on and connected, and time to dig out my mouse pointer. I'll give you a list of topics; you choose, and off we'd go.

         P.S. Don't forget, I also taught classes in the Navy on subjects centered around a Nuclear Power Plant. That's 30 years in my past now, so quite dusty. But I know I could talk about it to a general audience for at least 40 minutes.





Jim Dorrell