On Oct 25, 9:41*am, sorry-spammers ""w9wi\"@(sorry-spammers)" wrote:
Paging through an old QST, it dawned on me that when schematics are drawn, usually the earliest stages are drawn on the left side of the diagram. *The
speech input circuits for a voice transmitter; the antenna coupling and RF preamp (if any) for a receiver, etc., all seem to be drawn on the left.

In the tube days at least (and to some degree with solid-state homebrew today) we seem to build the actual equipment the same way: the earliest stages
are physically on the left side of the gear.

Heck, when I lay out a PCB or do dead-bug construction, I start on the
left too :-).

Of course, in Western culture we also read and write from left to right. *I suppose we learn to look for the beginning of a story on the left side of
the page.

And of course, in some other cultures, people read and write from *right to left*.

When people from these cultures become involved in radio, do they draw schematics (and build gear?) in the same direction Westerners do? *Or do they
work "backwards"?

In the 70's I was befuddled by a bunch of schematics from England that
I had to decode. I came to the conclusion that they were hard to read
because they drive on the wrong side of the road over there. But
really they were just using (by my standards) some odd symbols or odd
line thicknesses oddly placed. In my experience the choice of odd or
unconventional or even just different symbols is a far bigger barrier
to schematics between different cultures than any left-to-right bias.

Tim.