A look at my Symmetricom GPSDO / 10MHz reference (OCXO + Furuno receiver)

[wkb]

A while back I bought a log spiral antenna that has turned out to be a really decent GPS antenna. Its huge for a GPS antenna, but receives a strong signal anywhere. Using it I could probably use a GPS in my basement or in a tunnel, or something.

Its also passive, so very broadband. Works with all GNSS systems.

Now that you mention it.. that is the disadvantage of all UCCM variants I have had my hands on: only GPS GNSS is supportere by their receivers. No Beidou, no Galileo, no Glonass. Not sure if there are UCCM models that have multi-GNSS support though.

Ah well, it is probably safe to assume the USAF will keep their "birds" going for a long time 

[jrsphoto]

Those amps are pricey 
 

[Bad_Driver]

..if you refer to my SYMMETRICOM GPS Antenna splitter...I paid 38 € @ Ebay - lucky man I am 
But I'm still awaiting the N-type connectors...

[wkb]

I think that the attached screenshot tells me my Samsung UCCM has settled into my shack happily. 

What I do not get is why Az and El periodically go to N/A status. Typically they recover into normal values though. In case anyone knows why this happens I am all ears.

Wilko

[wkb]

<snip>

What I do not get is why Az and El periodically go to N/A status. Typically they recover into normal values though. In case anyone knows why this happens I am all ears.

Wilko

Bah., for whatever reason the serial comms between the OrangePi running now seem b0rked.  Yet more stuff to figure out/fix. Just what I needed with a counter and a scope sitting on the bench, waiting for repair 

[Bad_Driver]

I understand your problem. Yesterday during sitting on my bench my beloved Revox B77 reel-to-reel recorder died while playing
music of the 70ies  And it is not the fuse ... the next building site.

And a not working scope is waiting for month now...

I tracked both UCCMs (Sym and Sam) against each other for one week now. On the scope 10 Mhz are slowly drifting with about 1mHz/h.
The 1PPS are about 20ns away from each other. LH shows strange numbers for 1PPS for the SAM,
different from your picture Wilko. But the Samsung is still running on 5 volts. I will become nervous  if the behavior stay with >5.5volts....

[wkb]

I understand your problem. Yesterday during sitting on my bench my beloved Revox B77 reel-to-reel recorder died while playing
music of the 70ies  And it is not the fuse ... the next building site.

And a not working scope is waiting for month now...

I tracked both UCCMs (Sym and Sam) against each other for one week now. On the scope 10 Mhz are slowly drifting with about 1mHz/h.
The 1PPS are about 20ns away from each other. LH shows strange numbers for 1PPS for the SAM,
different from your picture Wilko. But the Samsung is still running on 5 volts. I will become nervous  if the behavior stay with >5.5volts....

Revox.. 

The 5.5V versus 5V.. there is a LDO on the UCCM so there should be a minimum delta-V for the LDO to operate.

The OrangePi/UCCM communications breakdown proved due to a MAX3232 module that had given up the ghost. A replacement MAX3232 module from Far Eastern offspring greeted me with a cooking-hot chip  Yet another module with a different PCB design but also using a MAX3232 works OK now. A ham friend of mine sent me a pointer, it seems that some of these modules have open inputs, so not tied to a stable voltage level (GND, Vcc) which sometimes causes the whole thing to oscillate    Will at some point given some time check if this was the culprit.  Bad design practice of course <sigh>  But it any case, for now it works again, see pic.

Wilko

[Bad_Driver]

Good and bad news.

No PSU from China arrived till today, so my Samsung runs for weeks now on 5 Volts, but it runs much better than the Symmetricom.
Attached a photo from my counter that measures the relation of the 10 MHz from both UCCMs - not too bad!!

But I fixed my REVOX B77, two caps died, one with a big bang in the PSU (2200uF/40V) and one small tantalum in the PSU was dried and had a short.
Mmmh after 44 years such things happen....

[jadew]

Hey guys,

Any ideas what it means when both LEDs are solid red? I think I got a dud, because I can't communicate with it and I have a feeling that solid red for both LEDs is not ok.

Thanks.

[Bad_Driver]

Hi Guys,

during Easter vacation I finalized my GPSDO. I decided to mount it into my distribution amplifier.
As mentioned before I got a bunch of 5 (!!) video distribution amps @ EvilBay for about 20 €  (I was only seeking for one)
The one you see in the picture has the highest bandwidth of about 120 MHz and enough place for a strong 5V (running at 5.5 volts) / 4 Amp PSU.
It's a "two separate devices in one enclosure" solution because I didn't want to touch the video amplifier part.

Interesting detail: on the connector for the UCCM you see a small pcb soldered - this is a 2-channel TTL-2-V24 level shifter.

The Samsung UCCM is running well (TFOM 0 or 1) and the whole setup takes 12 Watts (grrr! in Germany about 35€ power costs p.a. with our incredible green painted energy prices).
When the weather will become better it's time to change from my simple puck style antenna (laying on the roof in a plastic bag) to my better outdoor antenna.

btw: the location difference between the SAMSUNG UCCM and the SYMMETRICOM is about 5m but the SAMSUNG finds always a wrong height (84m instead of 42m), the SYMMETRICOm is much better regarding this.
Any idea why?   

[cdev]

That's very nice looking.

What you said about your energy costs is really scary. I wonder how all the people who are buying electric cars would take it if that happens here.

God, that is a lot of money for a little GPSDO.  Well, at least college is free in Germany.

Another insane cost here is healthcare co-pays. (additional fees you have to pay when you go to the doctor for every test, every visit basically everything. The idea is to discourage poorer people from getting them, even if you need them. )

Hi Guys,

during Easter vacation I finalized my GPSDO. I decided to mount it into my distribution amplifier.
As mentioned before I got a bunch of 5 (!!) video distribution amps @ EvilBay for about 20 €  (I was only seeking for one)
The one you see in the picture has the highest bandwidth of about 120 MHz and enough place for a strong 5V (running at 5.5 volts) / 4 Amp PSU.
It's a "two separate devices in one enclosure" solution because I didn't want to touch the video amplifier part.

Interesting detail: on the connector for the UCCM you see a small pcb soldered - this is a 2-channel TTL-2-V24 level shifter.

The Samsung UCCM is running well (TFOM 0 or 1) and the whole setup takes 12 Watts (grrr! in Germany about 35€ power costs p.a. with our incredible green painted energy prices).
When the weather will become better it's time to change from my simple puck style antenna (laying on the roof in a plastic bag) to my better outdoor antenna.

btw: the location difference between the SAMSUNG UCCM and the SYMMETRICOM is about 5m but the SAMSUNG finds always a wrong height (84m instead of 42m), the SYMMETRICOm is much better regarding this.
Any idea why?

No, thank you, I will have to compare my Samsung and TruePosition. 42 meters is really quite a bit. There must be a good reason for it, it couldn't possibly be off by that much IMHO without a good reason.

[Bad_Driver]

Energy costs are about 33 cent (€)/kWh  today but for car charging on public chargers you have sometimes to pay up to 60 cents.
1 liter diesel is nowadays about 1.30 € (after a big tax increase this year)

I believe every (electrical) engineer starts crying if he thinks about battery-driven cars.

Look at such a "beautiful" TESLA with about 850 kg batteries which store nearly 85 kWh.
1 kg Diesel contains 12.5 kWh chemical energy, the efficiency of a modern diesel engine is up to 45%.
Let's take 40%. That means with 17 kg diesel (about 20 liters or 5.5 gal for the friends of imperial complications)
you have the same mechanical energy available (assuming 100% efficiency of  a E-car and not thinking about up to 20% charging loss by Tesla)
as with this batterie with 4 wheels.... makes this sense?? 

Your are right with education costs, there is only a small fee at University p.a. (about 500 €). But my son decided to study in the UK 
I hope my other kids stay in Germany. I'm with the healthcare industry for more than 15 years. And I was involved in several international
system comparisons. Overall the german system is one of the best in the world (but don't ask a German).

The US HC spendings per head are about 15 k$ p.a.
and you know much better than me what you get and others not and what is included  and what not and what happens if you suffer from a chronical desease 

The german spendings per head are about 6.5 k$ p.a. and there is no exclusion from the insurance protection for anything (for most of all people).

The UK spendings are about 3k$ p.a. and the the NHS is TAX funded but with some limitations (growing trend to add on insurances).
At the end people in GER and UK live 2...3 years longer than US citizen  (all data from WHO)

Coming back to the SAMSUNG GPSDO. I think I read something about different earth models with impact to the GPS location but I'm not sure.
Should do a deep dive into Lady Heather maybe I find some options... But for my frequency standard this doesn't care.

Built today a small monostable multivibrator with 74LS123 to drive a LED to see the short PPS outside for my device.

[alessandro93]

Hi guys, I recently got a symmetricom gpsdo, when i power it up the green led flashes once a second and the orange ALM led stays on, after about one hour it locks and the green led goes to 2Hz.
Sending STATus command through serial port replyes with #H/W FAIL ....[EXT]  and #OPERATION ALARM...[Antenna]. I don't understand why if it seams to work fine.
GPS antenna and receiver are good because it finds sats and the right coordinates. Do you have any ideas? thanks

[ve7xen]

Hi guys, I recently got a symmetricom gpsdo, when i power it up the green led flashes once a second and the orange ALM led stays on, after about one hour it locks and the green led goes to 2Hz.
Sending STATus command through serial port replyes with #H/W FAIL ....[EXT]  and #OPERATION ALARM...[Antenna]. I don't understand why if it seams to work fine.
GPS antenna and receiver are good because it finds sats and the right coordinates. Do you have any ideas? thanks

The Antenna alarm will be activated if the antenna isn't consuming 'enough' current, or is consuming 'short circuit' current. You can expect this alarm if you aren't using an amplified antenna or maybe with some modern ones that have low power consumption.

What do you get from 'GPS:REF:ANT:CURR?'

You can adjust the thresholds with GPS:REF:ANT:[SHORT|OPEN]:CURR:THR

You can ignore the EXT alarm. These modules were installed in pairs and synchronized, so it's looking for an external reference, but will use the internal one if it is missing.

[Bad_Driver]

Some remarks. You find all in this board but it takes time to read.

1. in the beginning a lot of Symmetricom UCCM came with missing or broken part - first check.
2. it's always good to post the reply from SYST:STAT? / STATus / POSSTATus here!
3. the Furuno receiver is very sensitive to the antenna current as mentioned above. If the antenna takes less than 4 mA
it assumes a open antenna and with more than 40 mA a short. (from the data sheet of the FURUNO)
4. I would give Lady Heather a try with your board
5. the self survey takes up to 2 hours depending on your antenna location, compared to the SAMSUNG the SYMMETRICOM is very unsensitive

[thinkfat]

That's very nice looking.

What you said about your energy costs is really scary. I wonder how all the people who are buying electric cars would take it if that happens here.

God, that is a lot of money for a little GPSDO.  Well, at least college is free in Germany.

Another insane cost here is healthcare co-pays. (additional fees you have to pay when you go to the doctor for every test, every visit basically everything. The idea is to discourage poorer people from getting them, even if you need them. )

Hi Guys,

during Easter vacation I finalized my GPSDO. I decided to mount it into my distribution amplifier.
As mentioned before I got a bunch of 5 (!!) video distribution amps @ EvilBay for about 20 €  (I was only seeking for one)
The one you see in the picture has the highest bandwidth of about 120 MHz and enough place for a strong 5V (running at 5.5 volts) / 4 Amp PSU.
It's a "two separate devices in one enclosure" solution because I didn't want to touch the video amplifier part.

Interesting detail: on the connector for the UCCM you see a small pcb soldered - this is a 2-channel TTL-2-V24 level shifter.

The Samsung UCCM is running well (TFOM 0 or 1) and the whole setup takes 12 Watts (grrr! in Germany about 35€ power costs p.a. with our incredible green painted energy prices).
When the weather will become better it's time to change from my simple puck style antenna (laying on the roof in a plastic bag) to my better outdoor antenna.

btw: the location difference between the SAMSUNG UCCM and the SYMMETRICOM is about 5m but the SAMSUNG finds always a wrong height (84m instead of 42m), the SYMMETRICOm is much better regarding this.
Any idea why?

No, thank you, I will have to compare my Samsung and TruePosition. 42 meters is really quite a bit. There must be a good reason for it, it couldn't possibly be off by that much IMHO without a good reason.

Maybe one reports height over geoid and the other height above msl.

[Bad_Driver]

Yes, this were my thoughts ... I read about somewhere.

Will have a look into the Ublox manual next week. My other plain Ublox receiver doesn't suffer from that.

Remembers me of "Die Hard 2" where the evil boys changed the airport elevation for the incoming aircraft....

[thinkfat]

Still, a lateral difference of 5m is quite high, too. The 3d position uncertainty should be way below one meter after the survey-in completes.

[alessandro93]

Hi guys, I recently got a symmetricom gpsdo, when i power it up the green led flashes once a second and the orange ALM led stays on, after about one hour it locks and the green led goes to 2Hz.
Sending STATus command through serial port replyes with #H/W FAIL ....[EXT]  and #OPERATION ALARM...[Antenna]. I don't understand why if it seams to work fine.
GPS antenna and receiver are good because it finds sats and the right coordinates. Do you have any ideas? thanks

The Antenna alarm will be activated if the antenna isn't consuming 'enough' current, or is consuming 'short circuit' current. You can expect this alarm if you aren't using an amplified antenna or maybe with some modern ones that have low power consumption.

What do you get from 'GPS:REF:ANT:CURR?'

You can adjust the thresholds with GPS:REF:ANT:[SHORT|OPEN]:CURR:THR

You can ignore the EXT alarm. These modules were installed in pairs and synchronized, so it's looking for an external reference, but will use the internal one if it is missing.

Thanks for your reply I've tried with these commands but they are not accepted, it responds with "Undefined Header".

@Bad_Driver it looks no components are missing, regarding antenna yes it takes 4mA so this should be the reason.
Finally my symmetricom status:

(This messages are before it locks)
UCCM > SYSTem:STATus?

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
090-0xxxx-xx   serial number S3ZBxxxxxx   firmware ver 1.0.0.5-01      Ext mode
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Reference Status __________________________   Reference Outputs _______________
   Ref Ext: [LOS]                             
                                                                       TFOM     9             FFOM     3
                                                                       UCCM-LP Status[OCXO WARMUP]
                                             
XX GPS: [not enabled]                         
ACQUISITION .............................................. [ GPS 1PPS Invalid ]
Tracking: 4 ____   Not Tracking: 0 ________  Time ____________________________
PRN  El  Az  C/N                                          GPS      00:00:58 [?] 06 JAN 1980
 10  -- ---   --                                                GPS      Invalid: inacc position
 18  xx xxx   45                                          ANT DLY  +0.000E+00
 20  xx xxx   43                                          Position ________________________
 23  xx xxx   41                                           MODE     Survey:      0% complete
                                                                   Suspended: poor geometry
                                                                   INIT LAT N  45:xx:xx.xxx
                                                                   INIT LON E  12:xx:xx.xxx
                                                                   INIT HGT           +0.00 m  (MSL)


UCCM > STATus

                 - UCCM-LP Slot STATE -

1-1. #Now UCCM-LP STATUS --------------- [OCXO Warm]
1-2. #Before UCCM-LP STATUS ------------ [OCXO Warmup]
2-1. #Reference Clock Operation --------- [Not Used]
2-2. #Current Reference Type ------------- [Ext Clock]
2-3. #Current Select Reference ----------- [NOT SELECT]
2-4. #Current Reference Status ----------- [Not Selected]
     #GPS STATUS ------------------------------- [Unavailable]
     #ALARM STATUS
     #H/W FAIL ---------- [ EXT ]
     #OPERATION ALARM --- [ Antenna ]
3-1. PLL STATUS ------------------------------- [Enable]
3-2. Current: PLL MODE --------------------- [OFFSET OBSERVATION MODE]
Command Complete


UCCM > POSSTATus
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------
1/6/1980 00:15:29
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------
 Position : LAT(N 45:xx:xx.xxx) LON(E 12:xx:xx.xxx) H(0.00 m MSL)
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------
 Geometry : PDOP(0.0) HDOP(0.0) VDOP(0.0)
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------
 Channel Status
   num of visible sats > 11
   num of sats tracked > 5
   ------ Receiver Channel State ------
     CH 0 >  SateID(10) TrackMode(pos avail) SigValue(42)
     CH 1 >  SateID(15) TrackMode(pos avail) SigValue(36)
     CH 2 >  SateID(18) TrackMode(pos avail) SigValue(45)
     CH 3 >  SateID(20) TrackMode(pos avail) SigValue(40)
     CH 4 >  SateID(23) TrackMode(pos avail) SigValue(41)
     CH 5 >  SateID(0) TrackMode(code search) SigValue(0)
     CH 6 >  SateID(0) TrackMode(code search) SigValue(0)
     CH 7 >  SateID(0) TrackMode(code search) SigValue(0)
     CH 8 >  SateID(0) TrackMode(code search) SigValue(0)
     CH 9 >  SateID(0) TrackMode(code search) SigValue(0)
     CH 10 >  SateID(0) TrackMode(code search) SigValue(0)
     CH 11 >  SateID(0) TrackMode(code search) SigValue(0)
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------
  Rcvr Status(1) :
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------
  Antenna Voltage: 4666 mV,  Antenna Current: 4 mA
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------
Command Complete

This is after GPS lock:

Code: [Select]

UCCM > status

                 - UCCM-LP Slot STATE -



1-1. #Now UCCM-LP STATUS --------------- [Master]
1-2. #Before UCCM-LP STATUS ------------ [OCXO Warm]
2-1. #Reference Clock Operation -------- [Not Used]
2-2. #Current Reference Type ----------- [Ext Clock]
2-3. #Current Select Reference --------- [GPS 1PPS]
2-4. #Current Reference Status --------- [Good Accuracy & Stable]
     #GPS STATUS ----------------------- [Available]
     #ALARM STATUS
     #H/W FAIL ---------- [ EXT ]
     #OPERATION ALARM --- [ Antenna ]
3-1. PLL STATUS ------------------------ [Enable]
3-2. Current: PLL MODE ----------------- [NORMAL 2 MODE]
Command Complete
UCCM > SYSTem:STATus?
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
090-0xxxx-xx  serial number S3ZBxxxxxx   firmware ver 1.0.0.5-01      Ext mode
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Reference Status __________________________   Reference Outputs _______________
XX Ref Ext :                                 
                                              TFOM     2             FFOM     0
                                              UCCM-LP Status[ACTIVE]
                                             
>> GPS: [phase:  1.77e-08]                   
ACQUISITION ................................................ [ GPS 1PPS Valid ]
Tracking: 5 ____   Not Tracking: 5 ________   Time ____________________________
PRN  El  Az  C/N   PRN  El  Az                GPS      17:24:02     16 APR 2021
 xx  xx  xx  xx     xx  xx xx                GPS      Synchronized to UTC
 xx  xx xx   xx    xx  xx xx                ANT DLY  +0.000E+00
 xx   xx  xx   xx    xx  xx xx                Position ________________________
 xx  xx  xx   xx    xx  xx xxx                MODE     Survey:   34.7% complete
 xx  xx xx   xx    xx  xx  xx               
                                              AVG LAT  N  45:xx:xx.xxx
                                              AVG LON  E  12:xx:xx.xxx
                                              AVG HGT            +7.16 m  (MSL)

ELEV MASK  5 deg                             
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Command Complete


These are available commands after sending question mark:
'GPS:REF:ANT:CURR?' is not present

Code: [Select]

*IDN?
ALARm:HARDware?
ALARm:OPERation?
DIAGnostic:OUTPut ON|OFF
OUTPut:ACTive:ENABle
OUTPut:ACTive:DISable
OUTPut:ACTive:HOLDover:DURation:THReshold <seconds>
OUTPut:ACTive:HOLDover:DURation:THReshold?
OUTPut:INACTive
OUTPut:INACTive?
OUTPut:STATe?
SYNChronization:HOLDover:DURation:STATus:THReshold <seconds>
SYSTem:PRESet
SYNChronization:TFOMerit?
LED:GPSLock?
SYNChronization:FFOMerit?
GPS:POSition N or S,<deg>,<min>,<sec>,E or W,<deg>,<min>,<sec>,<height>
GPS:POSition?
GPS:POSition:HOLD:LAST?
GPS:REFerence:ADELay <numeric value>
GPS:REFerence:ADELay?
GPS:SATellite:TRACking:COUNt?
GPS:SATellite:TRACking?
DIAGnostic:ROSCillator:EFControl:RELative?
SYNChronization:TINTerval?
DIAGnostic:LOG:READ:ALL?
DIAGnostic:LOG:CLEar
SYSTem:PON
OUTPut:MODE?
SYSTem:STATus?
SYSTem:COMMunication:SERial1:BAUD 9600|19200|38400|57600
SYSTem:COMMunication:SERial1:BAUD?
SYSTem:COMMunication:SERial1:PRESet
SYSTem:COMMunication:SERial2:BAUD 9600|19200|38400|57600
SYSTem:COMMunication:SERial2:BAUD?
SYSTem:COMMunication:SERial2:PRESet
OUTPut:STANby:THReshold <seconds>
changeSN
SYNChronization:REFerence:ENABLE EXT|GPS
SYNChronization:REFerence:DISABLE EXT|GPS
SYNChronization:REFerence:ENABLE?
STATus
POSSTATus
TOD EN|DI
TIME:STRing?
REFerence:TYPE GPS|EXT
REFerence:TYPE?
PULLINRANGE 0|1|2|...|254|255
PULLINRANGE?
FREErun EN|DI
FREErun?
DIAGnostic:LOOP?
DIAGnostic:ROSCillator:EFControl:DATA GPS|<value>
DIAGnostic:ROSCillator:EFControl:DATA?
OUTPut:TP:SELection PP1S|PP2S
OUTPut:TP:SELection?
GPSystem:SATellite:TRACking:EMANgle <degrees>
GPSystem:SATellite:TRACking:EMANgle?
DIAGnostic:TCODe:STATus:AMASk
DIAGnostic:TCODe:STATus:OMASk
DIAGnostic:TCODe:ERRor:AMASk
DIAGnostic:TCODe:ERRor:OMASk
DIAGnostic:HOLDover:DELay
DIAGnostic:HOLDover:DELay?
GPS:SATellite:TRACking:IGNore <PRN>, ...,<PRN>
GPS:SATellite:TRACking:IGNore?
GPS:SATellite:TRACking:INCLude <PRN>, ...,<PRN>
GPS:SATellite:TRACking:INCLude?
GPS:SATellite:TRACking:<select>:ALL
SYNChronization:INPut:PPS:DELay <numeric_value>
SYNChronization:INPut:PPS:DELay?
DIAGnostic:ANTenna:CFEED <ON|OFF>
DIAGnostic:ANTenna:CFEED?

[ve7xen]

Yeah, apologies alessandro, I misread SYMMETRICOM as SAMSUNG after spending so much time on the Samsung units. The Samsungs have many hidden commands.

In any case it looks like your unit is working, you just need a better antenna or sky view  . The Symmetricom unit I have is very, very deaf.

[alessandro93]

nice    yes for now i'm just testing it in a temporary location. thanks

73

[Bad_Driver]

Looks not that bad with your UCCM, I‘m sure you need only a better antenna location.
And install Lady Heather, it makes all much easier.

[Bad_Driver]

Still, a lateral difference of 5m is quite high, too. The 3d position uncertainty should be way below one meter after the survey-in completes.

I wait with further investigations till I have mounted my outdoor antenna (marine typ) and my Smmetricom GPS antenna splitter. I‘m in some other projects and real life is demanding with 3 kids at home during covid.

[cdev]

You're "Global Warming Ready(TM)" assuming the sea level rises 42 meters. If that happens  Wall Street's "assets" will be completely underwater, literally. (Wall St is just a block from the southern tip of Manhattan Island so it is a very flood prone area. Atlantic Ocean is just nipping at the rocks at the edge of the park. Near where the Staten Island Ferry comes and departs. )

Yes, this were my thoughts ... I read about somewhere.

Will have a look into the Ublox manual next week. My other plain Ublox receiver doesn't suffer from that.

Remembers me of "Die Hard 2" where the evil boys changed the airport elevation for the incoming aircraft....

[Bad_Driver]

The last ice age is still 10 000 y ago (called Weichsel ice age I think).
At this time sea level was about 120 m deeper than today. Since this time the level is increasing, you can do the math...
Climate is changing since we got atmosphere on earth.

Would be worth doing real scientific research about the different contributors but not to believe swedish panic kids.

Engineers and scientist will develop and maybe rescue our world. But it is much harder to go thru this kind of university education than to become a news paper writer or a politician.