The AM Forum

I have always used the two words interchangeably, with aerial maybe the slightly more old-fashioned term. I happened upon this interesting little titbit in a 1933 edition of Radio Physics Course by Alfred A. Ghirardi (page362).

Don,

That's an interesting interpretation of the difference, but is not aerial an adjective and used as a short form for aerial wire, whereas antenna is a noun?

Prior to WW2, the license conditions in the UK required the antenna and lead-in combined to be no longer that 100ft total. The authorities then knew the lead-in part radiated and deliberately restricted the total antenna length. These quite draconian restrictions were introduced in 1920 when transmitting licenses were issued again after WW1, and the delay in issuing them and the severe restrictions imposed on amateurs then were the result of the Royal Navy trying stop amateur radio entirely in the UK.

Ghirardi's book sounds like it might be an interesting read. I wonder if it's available on Archive.org.

Dave.
   

According to current definitions in the dictionary, it can be both an adjective and a noun. The noun may well have evolved from the phrase "aerial wire".  English is a lot more flexible than languages like French, German and Spanish, and nouns, adjectives and verbs easily take on interchangeable functions.

Sometimes this ends up sounding silly or stupid. For example, the 2m CB term destinated. A pet peeves of mine that has crept into acceptable speech is do-able, when we already had the perfectly good (and more intelligent sounding) English word feasible.

    
aerial
- 3 dictionary results  Dictionary.com

–adjective
1.of, in, or produced by the air: aerial currents.
2.inhabiting or frequenting the air: aerial creatures.
3.operating on a track or cable elevated above the ground: an aerial ski lift up the mountainside.
4.reaching far into the air;  high; lofty: aerial spires.
5.partaking of the nature of air;  airy.
6.unsubstantial; visionary: aerial fancies.
7.having a light and graceful beauty; ethereal: aerial music.
8.Biology . growing in the air,  as the adventitious roots of some trees.
9.pertaining to or used for, against, or in aircraft.
10.supplied or performed by means of aircraft: aerial support; aerial reconnaissance.
–noun
11.a radio or television antenna.  


Exactly the same thing happened here.  The US Navy didn't want amateur radio to start back up in the US after the war either, causing a similar delay. I think it was 1919 before US hams were allowed back on the air. But US amateurs didn't have such severe restrictions on antennas and power when finally given the go-ahead.

But when the soldiers returned home from Europe, our government rewarded them with Prohibition!

Certainly the English language is always evolving and the meaning of words can be changed merely by continued misuse. Eventually those who compile the dictionary re-write the meaning to fit the common colloquial usage. Sometimes this can produce a complete reversal of the meaning, such as with the word sophisticated which used to mean artificial and is now commonly used to mean elegant and classy in the UK.

I don't have any real pet hates, but one North American word I always find amusing is irregardless!

Talking of rewarding the troops after WW1, our government promised to provide a land 'fit for heroes' and all they got was the same old thing as before. It took another 20 years and yet another war before any changes were made. Then, of course, it swung too far the other way.

Dave.

Dave, in the US 'irregardless' is a non-word, but is used incorrectly by those ignorant of proper spelling.

And speaking of changes of word use, consider the word 'plan'. I rarely see it used alone, most often it's 'game plan', even there's no game involved.

Another word losing its usage is 'affect', now instead, almost always used is 'impact', even there's no motion involved.

There are a lot of others that I can't bring to mind at the moment, but I will!

As for aerial and antenna, I don't recall hearing 'antenna' in the 1920s, seems like it was only 'aerial' then.

Walt

Another word that I have started using lately to raise curiosity is "doublet"  No more dipole or OWL.

That is another of my peeves.  Using abbreviations for words. 

Texting must drive you nuts then?  I know when my kids started substituting things like OMG etc into there speech, I quickly put a stop to that, at least when they are talking to me.  I pointed out how stupid they sounded and I think it actually worked...

I don't do much testing, but when I do, I don't use the silly abbreviations that the texters use. I always though that antenna( or antennae) were the sensors on the head of an insect. I prefer "aerial", although I may have lapsed into using "antenna" a few times.

Wireless went out of style, replaced by radio. Now, wireless has come back into popular use, but mostly refers to internet and computer related gadgets.

Joe, I haven't recently been able to find the exact page in Kraus' "Antennas", but on a footnote on one of its pages he defines 'antennae' precisely as you stated above, that of an insects feelers. Antennae is often used incorrectly as the plural of antenna.

Walt

Good for you Ed.  Language and the ability to communicate clearly is the foundation of knowledge.  I routinely make clerks repeat until I completely understand what they are saying.  Many times it takes two or more clerks to get it right.  Sure is fun on the infrequent trips to Wal-Mart.

Even more fun (or frustrating) than Wal o'China-Mart is Radio Shack, especially when you ask them if they have some very commonly used electronic component or connector.

For those concerned about this, here is an opportunity to provide Radio Shack with some direct feedback about their parts rather than posting potshots over and over and over and over again in an online forum. The latter approach is sure to accomplish nothing.

http://blog.radioshack.com/post/2011/05/19/RadioShack-And-The-DIY-Community-You-Talked-Were-Listening.aspx (http://blog.radioshack.com/post/2011/05/19/RadioShack-And-The-DIY-Community-You-Talked-Were-Listening.aspx)

It's been a long time since I was even in a Radio Shack, and usually the employees actually try to be helpful, but just don't have a clue what I am talking about when I ask for something like an adaptor to use a 1/4" mono jack with a 1/8" stereo headphone plug, or some common component like a wirewound power resistor. Sometimes I have ended up spotting the item and showing them where it's located and watching the blank stare I get in return. But it's nothing serious enough to really annoy me; I just find the whole thing amusing, kind of like the hilarious amateur radio antics described on the GoofyRadio site. I don't think they even had that website the last time I was inside a RS. I did purchase a little 10m AM/FM/SSB transceiver from them a few years ago, as well a VHF AM pocket size aircraft receiver for line noise sniffing, no complaints.

The one time I did get seriously pissed off at a RS was when I needed some widget after hours when the real electronics store in town was already closed on a Friday evening and wouldn't open till Monday, but I found whatever it was at the local RS. At that time I didn't have a credit or debit card, and the only cash I had in the house was the can where I emptied out pocket change. So I gathered up several dollars worth of quarters and hauled them with me.  When I went to pay for the object, the guy at the register said he would have to ask his manager before he could take all quarters for the purchase.  The manager said no, he didn't have anywhere to put the quarters.  Evidently the cash register didn't have a big enough drawer and he didn't want to store them somewhere else.  I pleaded, argued, threatened, and everything else short of just plunking the pile of quarters on the counter and walking out with the item.  Finally I  left and told them with a few choice vocabulary words what a bunch of jackasses I thought they were as I was walking towards the door. 

I always describe my 135 ft antenna, fed in the center with window line, as a doublet on bands other than 80M.  Most people consider a dipole as a half wave antenna.   On 40M sometimes I say "two half waves in phase" for the same antenna or a "two element collinear".

That's right, once you've got more than two poles in the voltage distribution along the wire you shouldn't call it a dipole.

Walt, I only really noticed ‘irregardless’ being used up in the North-Eastern States to any extent. I don’t recall hearing it in the South or on the West Coast. They tend to use lots of quaint expressions up in New England! On the subject of 'wireless,' people of my parents’ generation here in the UK have never given up calling a domestic radio receiver a ‘wireless set’ despite the fact that ‘radio’ is the term they use for everything else connected with broadcasting and communications.

 I think the ‘creative’ people in advertising have corrupted the English language a great deal over the last 50 or 60 years. Nowadays, it seems to be business and lifestyle gurus who are coining all the new terms. Some of these new expressions are used so much by politicians over here that they seem to be almost meaningless gobbledygook. I suppose it makes it easier for them to deny if they’re later pinned down on some particular issue.

Don, despite your problems with them, do I detect a slight note of affection for Radio Shack? I’ve heard lots of criticism of them over the years, but I must say that I’ve found them pretty useful for odds and ends whenever I’ve been in the States. Thanks to them, I discovered how good Murata CSB455E ceramic resonators were in the early ‘80s. RS had them on offer for 50 cents for 2, and I bought 20 just to try them in ladder filters. They had Q values up to 3300 and selected ones made great tuneable notch and 4-pole CW filters. So, I have a certain fondness for them myself, and would be sorry to see them pull out of the hobby market entirely. I don’t have a problem with their employees not knowing where things are or much about electronics. You get used to appalling service in shops when you live in the UK!

Dave.
 

Nobody has yet mentioned the wide misuse of "your" where it should be "you're".  It prevails everywhere, including this forum.

Eric

heheheh...

I make a lot of mistakes typing and talking, but while we're at it, my pet peeves are hearing "OrienTATED"  said in place of "oriented".

Another error that is VERY common relates to the three dimensions,  height, width and depth. I sometimes hear "heighTH".   It's a natural since the other two end in "th".


But I just love improperly using "kilocycle" to show my age. Just like when George/W1GAC used to say, "condensor".


Life must be good when we can P&M about this stuff... ;)


T

Amperage.

HA!

There shud be a radio prison for violators using "amperage" when "current" is available for free... ;D

"Juice" is a close second for "voltage"...

T

My 'condensors' are still measured in 'jars.'

And, 'syntony' was the greatest invention ever!

Referring to RS, I went in and asked for 1/10 amp fuse. The salesman said they didn't carry such a fuse. After some banter I asked him if they carried 'point-one amp' fuses, and he said 'sure' and pulled out the tray with 1/10 amp fuses. He obviously didn't know that 1/10 and 0.1 were the same. Go figger.

Walt

Then there is current flow.

"Ommameter" got Mr. Williams reel mad at me in Electrical Class.

Whats wrong with "juche"? Their lots of people who use this discriptor.  And Kim likes it to.


klc

The use of " alot" instead of " a lot ".  :P :P

Yes, Radio Shack is one of those things you can get a cynical pleasure out of having contempt for or making fun of. Walt's story is a clear example of what I mean.

Now, that brings up another point.  There is absolutely nothing wrong with putting a preposition at the end of a sentence if it makes the meaning clear.  That non-rule must have been suggested by some old fuddy-duddy who couldn't find anything real to gripe about.  Look how absurdly cumbersome the above sentences become when one goes to all the trouble of not placing the preposition at the end: ...things for which you can get a cynical pleasure out of having contempt, or of which to make fun... anything real about which to gripe.   ::)

Another mistake I see all the time, even in professional writing and ad copy where the author should know better, is the use of "it's" to show possession.  It's is a contraction of it is and nothing else, and should never relate to that which belongs to it. That should be spelt its without the apostrophe, just as we don't write hi's or her's (I have seen people use the latter, as well as your's, our's and their's).

Another one is the misuse of the apostrophe to show plural, often seen on signs: Fresh Oyster's For Sale, Used Car's.


How about DC current, AC current and the i.f. frequency?  ...Well at least that's not as bad spelling ham (as in ham radio) all capitals, and/or leaving the radio part out of the phrase.

I just like to plug in the microphonium and crank up the scrote knob till the diaperpole melts.
 

When I was a kid aerials were used for radios and antennas were used for TV's.

For almost ten years, I did not acknowledge wireless text messages that were rife with unauthorized abbreviations and acronyms. Now I have a cellular phone that does not receive text messages and I no longer have to manually ignore them.

I know this may sound SMUG, but current is actually "Charge" flow, as in electrons.

Regarding Radio Shack, here there is a RS with a knowledgeable, attractive female who knows a lot about electronic components. It's actually refreshing to speak to someone who knows somethin about electronic components and where they are located in the store.

Phil - AC0OB

[language police mode][/language police mode]

Right. The current doesn't flow. It is the result of electron/charge flow. This is no different than the current in a river - it is the result of flowing water.

Then of course, we cannot forget about SWRs. Got HAM?

I just couldn't resist...
 
(http://images8.cpcache.com/product/416958698v3_240x240_Front.jpg)
 
 ;D

OK, How about skyhook? It's non specific ;D  ;D


And one must always remember that "the crux of the biscuit is the apostrophy."  ;D

Please don't rub it in.


klc