"Reg" wrote in message
...
"Charles Brabham" wrote

APRS fits TAPR's ideal of a "killer application" perfectly - It
kills off all interest in the hobby.

Charles, that may be to case in the US, but here in England, it was
the RSGB that killed off packet radio.

Our ARRL did nothing to damage the Packet hobby - and nothing to help it
either. It was a secondary organization, TAPR, which was the main problem on
this side of the pond. The irony here is that TAPR was allegedly supposed to
support packet radio and it did - until a clique of internet junkies took
the organization over in the late 1980's. The non-ham types have since
discredited TAPR and had the organization to the point where last year, they
hired a fellow to examine the organization in order to determine what it
might be good for. - The report was inconclusive.

I could have saved them a little money on that one... I could have told them
that TAPR was of dubious value for free.

The Radio Society of GB had this odd idea that reducing the channel
spacing was needed because the commercial radio used closer channel
spacing than ham radio.

Yes, it's amazing how amateurs are supposed to innovate, and do new things -
but there is a large group of halfwits who judge the hobby's worth and state
of the art by how closely it resembles commercial stuff that has nothing to
do with amateur radio. The TAPR halfwits disparage any aspect of amateur
radio which does not resemble the familiar internet.

Judging by your experience with RSGB and our experience with TAPR, it should
be plain (except to halfwits of course) that instead of trying to emulate
existing systems, amateurs should be experimenting with new and different
ideas that the commercial outfits may someday emulate.

The commercial outfits supposed to be following our lead as they have many
times in the past - and not the other way around. The RSGB and TAPR folks
being discussed are the worst kind of Luddites, in this respect. Because of
their destructive ignorance, these people have no place in the hobby. We
would be much better off without them.

At least APRS has increased activity on VHF here. However I agree
that internet connections would appear to be more important for some
folk.

It's what they know.

Charles, N5PVL