I particpate in a monthly (usually) Podcast with Bill Meara, N2CQR. In the most recent Podcast, #211 Bill talked about a book he was reading called Coders. This book explores the divide between the Analog and the Digital "people" with its roots in ambiguity. The Analog guys always live in Ambiguity, whereas the Digital guys, it is either a "0" or a "1". Bill futher explained that in the Analog world things can "sorta work" but not to the full extent. In the Digital world--it is either on or off often demonstarted by error messages like won't compile.
In the past two weeks I have experienced the world of ambiguity and it is driving me nuts. It all has to do with my acquiring several 1960's -- 1970's boat acnhor radios at very cheap prices and then making them work. The grand plan is moving some of these gems to a Digital VFO.
One such rig is the WRL Duobander. This was a $160 radio (1960's) that worked 80 and 40 Meter SSB over two ranges: 3.8 to 4 MHz and 7.1 to 7.3 MHz. It had two 6HF5's for the finals and had a 300 Watt input. Contained in the rig was some very clever circuitry with a 5.55 MHz four pole crystal Filter and a VFO that tuned in the 1.6 MHz range. Using that combo a simple mixer with band pass filters produces either 80 or 40 Meters.
But that is the problem! When things "sorta work" it makes it hard to find out why it doesn't work fully. My Duobander does receive and does transmit BUT it is weak on sensitivity and the transmitter output is only about 100 watts. I note that someone has been tinkering with the circuit board in the locations where I would look to find the problem. So that tells me --it was a problem before I got it. Follow this link for more on ambiguity.