In article k.net, "KØHB"
writes:

"Michael Black" wrote

| Take out that history from amateur radio, and I really
| don't see it starting up today.

You absolutely NAILED it Michael. Amateur radio was started and
sustained until post-WWII by tinkerers, experimenters, and technically
orientated types.

Also traffic handlers, ragchewers, DX and emergency types.
Skilled operators, IOW.

The early hams had to be technically oriented, because the
equipment of the time demanded it. A ham who knew what s/he
was doing could work the world with arelatively simple station,
while a ham who didn't couldn't hear a station in the next
town.

Of course, much of the development of electronics since those
times has been aimed at reducing and eliminating the need for
"users" to have technical knowledge and/or operator skill.
Amateur radio is one of the few places where such things are
considered important. Indeed, the whole concept of "radio
operator" has largely disappeared outside amateur radio.

That our service continues to exist today is a
miracle, attributable mainly to the efforts of RAC, ARRL, DARC, JARL,
IARU, RAE, RSGB, and all the other national societies who so far have
convinced the regulators to allow us to continue.

And the hams who make up those organizations.

The notion of a "start up" amateur radio service or any personal radio
service with such broad gifts of spectrum and freedom to experiment as
we enjoy wouldn't gain any traction at all in todays technological
environment.

Exactly. What might be created would resemble MURS or FRS, with lots of
restrictions and requirements, and very little of the freedom we take for
granted.

73 de Jim, N2EY