RadioBanter - View Single Post

November 10th 04, 01:05 AM

(N2EY) wrote in message . com...
Alun wrote in message . ..
(Brian Kelly) wrote in

I bought him a copy of the ARRL primer on
ham radio, a copy of Passport and I need to dredge up a half-decent
rcvr for cheap, toss some wire up and I'll see what happens.

Christmas is coming, do it soon!

Just don't get him some "worldband" POJ.

.. . . groan . . I am not a newbie to HF radios . . .

He might actually enjoy an older receiver (!) simply because it's
different and not like everything else in RatShack. He sounds like the
kind of kid who may be specifically attracted to the uniqueness of HF
radio.

Twelve-year-olds have two new hot buttons per day on average and I
learned a long time ago to be very selective about financing those hot
buttons. I'll *loan* him my TS-50 for awhile and see where he takes
it.

Hams still do *public service* comms (covers emergency comms and more)
and also "advance the state of the art" in some ways. But that view is
way too limited.

The HF spectrum is a
protected and regulated natural resource

*THAT* is the hard sell to the antiscience folks. It's clear from the
comments of BPL folks that they just don't understand HF radio.

The "BPL folks" understood quite well what HF radio is all about going
into the brawl. They set us up like ducks at a boardwalk shooting
gallery which meshed beautifully with the agenda of the current
"antiscience" leadership at the FCC and up.

Point 2: The coming of BPL is exactly analogous to the timber
companies clear-cutting anywhere they choose to do so. We're now in a
position to get clear-cut ourselves, that's WRONG and it's coming from
the same bunch of politicians who have the worst environmental record
and big-biz "connections" in recent times. The environmentalists have
beaten back the timber companies by leaning on the politicians and the
courts and now it's our turn.

Yup. And it's not just timber companies; all sorts of commercial
interests want to "develop" the "wilderness". Remember Storm King.

No. What matters is *now*, as in drilling in the wilderness preserves
in Alaska.

Brian, you're right!

The issue is not that we are relevant or up to date. We're not.

I disagree!

We *are* relevant, simply because we are "the public"! And we are as
"up to date" as we need to be.

Agreed here. Sort of.

There should be a place for folks to enjoy radio for its own sake. As
its own justification. That does *not* mean there should be no rules
or standards, however.

Yup.

CB and FRS are parts of the same thing,

Not really.

Those services are meant for specific comms purposes. That's why
they're channelized, used only approved equipment (in theory anyway)
and are restricted in other ways (you're not going to work the world
on FRS or CB).

I realize that we're all "bred" to diss the CBers but when it comes to
passing real emergency traffic to the authorities over the years they
have us beat by probably a couple orders of magnitude. As far as
"working the world" is concerned there was a local CBer here (recent
SK) who worked all 22 Swiss cantons which I have yet to pull off for
the Helvitia 22 award and the sucker had the cards to prove it. All of
it with a big quad and a perfectly legal 10W type-accepted CB ssb
xcvr. Yeah, I know, his DXing wasn't legal. Neither are Henry 3K amps
and pairs of 4-1000As with their plate meter needles pinned to the
right side.

I agree with Alun, all not-for-profit personal comms bands need to
fall under the same basic protective umbrella or we'll wind up in a
divide & conquer maneuver.

First off, amateur radio is more than "just a hobby" because of the
public service comms, technical innovation, and educational angles. We
must not lose those things - we're adding, not subtracting.

That's EXACTLY the kind of entrenched 'wayback thinking which needs to
put behind us because most of it's BS.

Second, although millions of acres are preserved as parks in the USA,
the total percentage of area in that system isn't very large, compared
to how big the USA is. If we try to sell ham radio on the park idea
alone, we might find ourselves with a tiny percentage of the spectrum
we now have.

There wouldn't be any need to do that sort of number-juggling, just
edit the opening paragraphs of Part 97 and leave details like the band
edges alone.

Recreational technology usually doesn't exactly compare to commercial
or military technology. Sailing ships are all but gone from the
commercial shipping and fishing venues,

Try commercial crabbing in the Chesapeake Bay with a power boat . .

and from the world's navies as
well. But they are all over the place in recreation.

.. . . .

Here's another concept to add to the pie - sports. Look at the London,
Boston and New York City marathons (just to name three) - they involve
the use of public facilities (roads) for a use that is basically
recreational for 99+% of the participants. Some folks would rather
that all those marathoners just run on treadmills rather than tying up
traffic for a day. Radiosport is a big part of amateur radio.

Now - how do we sell that package?

The usual. Get the ARRL to support it and petition the FCC for an
NPRM.

73 de Jim, N2EY

w3rv