Those of you who have some electronic knowledge, or a knowledge of radio and radio control will be familiar with the term signal to noise ratio (s/n ratio). To the uninitiated this is the technical term for measuring interference. If you are listening to a radio station which is some distance away, or if conditions are unfavourable, there will be some background noise (hiss, crackling, etc.) which makes listening difficult.
The point at which this noise becomes unacceptable varies from listener to listener and it is possible to train the ear to accept very high levels (low signal/noise ratio) and still distinguish the program content. If the noise level becomes very gradually worse, the human ear is such a wonderful device that it will adapt to the difference and it is not until it becomes really bad that you notice it. In radio control equipment this ratio is all important and decides that point at which the decoder stops working.
I remember reading, many years ago, a science fiction story in which one of the participants pointed out to the other that it was possible to notice the same sort of thing occurring in the background of life. The theory here was that life was some sort of tape recording which became fuzzy as the tape heads became worn, or the tape wrinkled. Sometimes there was an actual jump or hesitation in the tape which produced noticeable effects. In most cases, the mind rejected these or only remembered them vaguely as dreams. It all seemed rather far fetched at the time, if rather amusing.
Have you noticed that it is impossible these days to read more than about three paragraphs of any published material (magazines, papers, technical literature) without encountering spelling mistakes, type setting errors, or - worst of all - appalling English? And does it really matter anyway, since nobody really reads anything anymore. They see what they want to see.
If you listen to the radio, it soon becomes obvious that the, once much admired, average BBC newsreader or announcer cannot deliver more than about a dozen words without having to correct himself. It is not uncommon either to have one particular item announced to be followed by something quite different.
Many programs revolve around music which various artists have spent many hours getting just right. The shows are presented by people who are so insensitive to what is actually being played that they usually talk all over the introduction and then fade the record out before it is finished. Come to think of it when did you last hear any record played in its entirety?
On TV, it seems to be impossible for any sporting event to be covered adequately. The cameras are looking the wrong way, or the producer watching the wrong monitor, and anything really worth watching is missed. It is not unusual for a given afternoon program to cover four or five events, which all finish at different times, and to succeed in not showing the end of any of them live - or within an hour of them happening. BBC radio recently covered the 24 hour Le Mans race with a report every hour throughout the race - and then missed the finish!
Read several different reports of the same news event in as many different newspapers and they are all different. Can no-one be bothered to find out what really happened?
In personal conversations, no-one means what they say anymore - and why should they, since nobody listens to what is said, anyway. Make some highly specific arrangements with someone on a course of action and they will do something quite different!
English - both spoken and written - has now become so ambiguous that there are few indeed who can really make themselves understood. Here again, the much vaunted BBC news leaves much to be desired. I listened to a news broadcast while writing this and it produced the following: "A moments thought on his part would have revealed that the child's mother was incapable of looking after him." Anyone like to guess who she was incapable of looking after?
Perhaps the world is just going to the dogs and every person in it is so concerned with themselves that nothing outside of them makes an impression. Maybe the weather is not really getting worse and such things as increasing crime rates are just a bad dream.
Yes, this does sound like a thorough wallow in self pity, but is it? The spots before my eyes are becoming ever more noticeable and my hands will do less and less of what I ask of them. All manner of things persist in falling on to the floor when I know I had a good hold on them.
All of the various laws attributed to Murphy, Parkinson and Finagle also have a place here somewhere, but I can't be bothered to figure it out.
Someone once defined old age as a worsening signal/noise ratio. He may have been closer to the truth than he realised.
I must apologise to all those of you who were looking forward to meeting me at the ASP Large Model Day. In the hope of refuting all those allegations of this column being against large models, the intention was to turn up with a large model of my own.
So, work was begun on a quarter scale Monocoupe 90A, this being one of my particular favourites. It became apparent at an early stage, however, that there were going to be difficulties. Despite all my efforts, the eventual flying weight came to only some 4 Kg. which is sadly inadequate to qualify it as a large model.
Be that as it may, I can now see just where I went wrong:
I should have used spruce for everything instead of just the load carrying parts. Cutting the ribs from ply would probably have been cheaper than the built up scale-type items, as well as heavier.
While the tissue covering - double covered over open structure - is perfectly adequate, one of the iron-on canvases would have helped to increase the weight.
The OS 50H produces more than enough power to give scale flight at a little above half throttle and needs only a little nose weight. Using the more popular Quadra would have removed the need for noseweight and given only a slight increase in power.
While balsa cement is quite sufficient for any structural joints it is rather less weighty than the popular epoxy. Likewise microballoons and dope is rather less substantial than plastic padding.
Probably the biggest error was in painting the model with dope. The more usual epoxy, polyurethane, or emulsion would have helped to get the weight up. Then perhaps I should have mixed lead powder in the glue in the approved manner.
It does seem rather sad that my long modelling experience should have stood in my way in my efforts to qualify for the elite of the R/C world. When money permits I hope to start work on a one sixth scale (160 inch) Stinson Trimotor, with three Quadra's, which I hope will weigh in at around 6 Kg.