Snip............
On the down side, the HF bands are NOT a big-
ticket item for communications as they once were.
Today the RF world is deep into cellular
telephony for sites and providers, and some
for users (at companies with large production
lines and consumer marketing structures). The
world of communications has moved UP and over
that mythical, artificial dividing line of
30 MHz.
Just a quick thumbsuck...
The only "significant" HF users these days a
Shortwave broadcasting - except for being HF, their equipment has nothing in
common with ham rigs.
Military - "Black box" rigs with a minimum of knobs&buttons - most also
feature secure spread spectrum - so not much commonality with Ham equipment
here either
Then there's Hams - most of us want the maximum possible bells, whistles,
knobs and buttons. Hi tech features with everything" user
adjustable/selectable.
Maritime and Aviation users are moving / have already moved to satellite for
"longer than VHF range" comms.
Other commercial HF users are very few and far between.
So it really is quite amazing that we get the rigs we do.
My experience of "professional" 2-way radio users: I'm a member of the
Police Reserve here in South Africa (quite similar to military reserves).Not
a single one of them (30-40 people) has a clear understanding of the concept
of frequency. All they (need to) know is how to select channel number and
adjust the volume - their radios only have those 2 knobs. They also know not
to start talking before the beeps have stopped. That is the sum total of
their "technical" radio knowlege. (No wait! - Some of them also know how to
swap a HT battery pack.) Everything else: channel programming, CTCSS,
repeater offset, etc. (internal controls) is done by the techies at the
provincial headquarters.
73
Roger ZR3RC