Subject: Ham-radio is a hobby not a service
From: (Len Over 21)
Date: 4/5/2004 1:04 AM Central Standard Time
Message-id:
In article , Mike Coslo
writes:
confusion may result from the fact that hams may be "of service" under
some circumstances. It is hard to think of 75 meter illness comparison
nets as a service, or chasing QSL cards, but there are times when our
assistance is not a bad thing.
ANY citizen can, and many do perform real acts of service for their
communities. No ham license needed for that.
Unless, of course, they choose to do that service as a control operator of
an Amatuer Radio Staton.
How many hams sit and monitor the ham bands strictly for
emergency calls? Or even use a second receiver in a "guard"
mode? Anyone monitor the old 500 KHz maritime distress
frequency? The high-MF voice frequency? Anyone monitor the
civil aviation distress frequency of 121.5 MHz?
Feel free to take your own poll on that. I doubt you will find ONE
who will answer affirmative on any of them.
I use a Hamtronics receiver with ELT alarm function. I also monitor
military guard and maritime guard with EPIRB alarm. We have tone alerting for
ARES/SKYWARN locally.
Those who want to be of REAL service can join the Peace Corps
or something similar. No ham license needed there, either. Or
volunteer working at a homeless shelter, or a shelter for battered
women. LOTS of places can use volunteers doing a REAL
service instead of prancing around saying "we're hams and we
are basically an emergency service (and a noble credit to our
community, etc.)."
Of course we have Lennie to depend upon to tell us what "real" service is.
Not that Lennie hiumslef has gotten himslef out of the house to do ANY kind of
service...Unless you consider LIP service...
Now, if you want to start a real ruckus, you can claim you got
into ham radio just to "do a service for your country." If you do
that, you will be telling an [expletive deleted] untruth. :-)
REALITY, folks, not false parading around on isolated stories
of wonderfulness by others, waving your flags, etc.
REALITY, Lennie, are the reams of accolades bestowed to Amateur Radio by
the governors of almost every state for various "Amateur Radio Weeks", all of
which acknowledge the disaster relief and other public service activities of
Amateur Radio.
REALITY are the words of praise read into the Federal Register by elected
representitives in Congress, from various disaster relief agencies, the
Department of State, the Department of Defense, etc etc etc that atest to
Amateur Radio's value as a "valuable national resource".
REALITY, Lennie, is found in the Memorandums of Understanding by numerous
private, civil and military agencies with the ARRL/ARES for rendering support
in those very same scenarios.
REALITY, Lennie, is that you are a loud mouthed idiot with absolutely NO
basis for your anti-Amateur rantings save for your own wonded ego that won't
let you take an Amateur exam lest you admit that you ARE a mere mortal and must
do what other mere mortals must do to possess an Amateur Radio license.
Sucks to be you, Putzy One.
Steve, K4YZ