national support line

I tried calling National Semiconductor to see if they would be able to answer any of my questions about using the LMX9820, however I was told that because I was a student they wouldn't be able to answer any of my questions. I wonder if anyone else has had this problem and what they did about it.

Write a letter to the most senior person in the company and explain that by not learning how to use their products will influence what parts you will design into your products when you graduate and get a commercial job.

While I was not able to get any information from National Semiconductor themselves. I was able to get all the help I needed by calling Digi-key. They offer tech support on almost any chip that they sell and spent along time on the phone with me as well as email. So I reccomend purchasing from them.