3

Proposal: Amateur Radio

See the announcement on the Arduino proposal:

Questions on the electronics engineering aspects of Arduino? Ask on Electrical Engineering.SE!

Should we have something similar on this proposal (Amateur Radio)?

I think so. This proposal is listed in , not . On EE, questions about technology for radio are hearty welcomed. I wouldn't like to have to look at two different sites for interesting questions about the theory of radio.

1
  • 1
    Exactly. We already have a active site where electronics, antenna, propagation, etc, questions are on topic and welcome. I wouldn't want to split off a part of the existing EE community to a ham-specific site. I'd rather see more RF questions on EE, hopefully with more RF experts participating.
    – Olin Lathrop
    Aug 27, 2013 at 14:19

5 Answers 5

Reset to default
10

I am strongly of the opinion that both the electronics and the social aspects of Amateur Radio should be on topic here. There are a limited subset of questions that would be on topic on Electrical Engineering as well, but I believe that this community will be better served by keeping them all on one site.

However, it might be a good idea to post something like the mentioned statement after we hit the commitment phase, especially if we have a lot of new people (To Stack Exchange) committing to this proposal. It would give them a site where they might be able to get the required 200 reputation to continue.

5

While these questions might be welcome on EE (which I do rather doubt..) there isn't a point in moving questions about radios off a site about radios.. That just doesn't make sense.

Subject overlap is a good thing and I don't really see how the little overlap these two subjects are going to have will/would cause problems.

Of course, I'm not saying we will never migrate a question to EE. If it is very specific to the electronics of a radio and doesn't get a good answer, I suppose migration might become an option, but not before that.

4
  • Also, as you can see with the recent closing of Arduino beta, most people don't want to ask borderline questions on EE because they don't feel welcomed.
    – Seth
    Apr 28, 2013 at 0:13
  • Actually I think most ham electronics-related questions would be on topic and welcome on EE. Don't compare the arduino and ham communities. Arduinees asking stupid questions are indeed not welcome on EE, but hams have passed at least some intelligence-test hurdle and generally are interested in the technology. Stuff like which model of receiver or transmitter is better would be off topic, but anything about a circuit or its application, antenna theory, and to some extent even legal use of bands would be on topic. Personally, I'd like to see more ham questions on EE.
    – Olin Lathrop
    Aug 27, 2013 at 14:16
  • @OlinLathrop Sure, that could be true. I'm not saying you won't ever get questions from us, but we're the ham site so ham questions will be on-topic, even radio electronic questions. I guess we'll get a better policy on this as the site progresses.
    – Seth
    Aug 27, 2013 at 14:39
  • 2
    "Arduinees asking stupid questions are indeed not welcome on EE" this is exactly the attitude that is quickly making EE unwelcome and unusable to anyone who understands a little bit less than those who who think they have all the answers on EE. A separate Ham SE will bring in the open and friendly nature of Ham - where newcomers with questions, stupid or otherwise, would get civil responses and actual help from those that know a little bit more than them. A full isolation from EE would do wonders.
    – RonJ
    Sep 11, 2013 at 13:02
1

I 'd also like to add that amateur radio engineering is effectively an application driven electrical engineering. The Electrical Engineering forum is just an umbrella for all electrical applications, which is fine for most EE questions, but there are certainly situations where the application is extremely important in deciding more subtle details and critiques about the circuits and such. Plus if we develop a community of experts for RF circuits, the EE site might actually send US questions that pertain to this specific application, which I think would be a fantastic milestone.

1

No, I don't believe the distinction should be made. Whether the proposal is in Technology or Recreation is only relevant if you make the assumption that the two are mutually exclusive. I enjoy electronics engineering as a hobby (i.e. recreationally). My interest in it came from my professional technology experience.

There will certainly be overlap between the two areas and that's okay. Some questions might be more easily answers by someone that's already familiar with the specific requirements and aspects of amateur radio than someone with general EE experience.

1

Amateur Radio also has a strong non-technical aspect to it. Some were mentioned here earlier; Operating protocol & customs, Rules & Regulations (both national, and otherwise). There is the physics aspect - propagation & antenna design for instance.

IMHO there is a reasonable case for an Amateur Radio SE.

3
  • This doesn't address the concerns in the question. I like the non-technical aspect, but it would be better to have the technical aspect on Electrical Engineering.
    – user72809
    Sep 17, 2013 at 17:53
  • @CamilStaps: The question carries an implicit assumption - discussion of radio electronics theory would be restricted to the AR.SE once it enters beta which is simply not the case. Any topics relevant/focused on amateur radio could be posted/redirected to the proposed site. Non-ham EE users & EE mods would, imo, benefit from improved SNR.
    – Everyone
    Sep 17, 2013 at 18:11
  • That wasn't my assumption at all. You can read the last sentence of my question, this shows that I think of a totally different situation. Please read a question before you try to answer it, thank you.
    – user72809
    Sep 17, 2013 at 18:17

You must log in to answer this question.