Although well written Mr Plod and in some places downright excellent I
think you are making assumptions about what AR "really is" and
imprinting your own views as being the gospel. Mind you there is nothing
wrong with that and invites positive discussion. Things could also be
very different in G land but my experiences are different. Just be
careful presenting this to outsiders as being something other than your
personal view.

You seem to dwell on the "difference" or "better than" that AR has over
other radio services. Since this and the associated CB bashing that
pervades this NG on a regular basis I guess you are in good company. You
could roughly divide radio use into "CB related" "Amateur related" and
anything else like public services and commercial. You then concentrate
yet again on the CB vs AR debate.

In my view there has always been a blurring about what use CB vs AR is
about. It's a double set of bell shape curves that overlap in a lot of
ways.

The first thing you have to do when judging behaviour and use is to
throw away the ideal world of what the law that was passed on the topic
actually menas or is interpreted to mean. Such arguments as "go get your
license and we'll let you experiment" are irrelevent in the light of
what ACTUALLY happens in the real world. The law is suppose to reflect
the community attitude and beliefs rather than force its direction.
There will never be enough resources to enforce a law if a large
percentage of those that affect it, ignore it! Yes there are undesirable
people on both CB and AR bands. This however is a subset of people
generally. You can be obnoxious just as easily without a radio as having
one. What grade of license you have is irrelevent and it continues to
happen.

There is a lot of social conversion on AR, husbands and wives use it as
a contact medium, people exchange weather reports and QSL cards. Those
that go on desert treks use it as a backup emergency system. There is a
lot on inane chatter about all types of things simply to hear one self
speak! Are these within the technical pursuit of the hobby? CB'ers
experiment with antenna systems and propagation, do technically illegal
things to their radios in the PURSUIT of making them work better. In the
process they learn and enjoy their hobby like an AR user does. Yes the
technical standard isnt likely to be as high but it is there.

There is NO brick wall seperating the use of the respective services. It
is very blurred and overlaps considerably. There is no black or white
view amongst most of those that use it. There are of course exceptions
that dont look at the real world and try to force their own misguided
views as correct. There is however a continual case of "I am better than
you because I am licensed" not unlike the "keeping up with the Jones's"
habit of preening in ones own nest.

Unhappily though "decency" or whatever you like to call it is not just a
function of radio users. Its the result of the way the world is changing
or if you like a sociological problem just waiting to explode. The place
is a lot unhappier, people are more willing to return to their animal
instincts and anything that makes it easy to tread in your neighbours is
fair game. I mean just look at this newsgroup...

Apologies for this post being OT in the other groups posted

Bob VK2YQA (Who is more intersted in technical pursuits)

Plod's Conscience wrote:

What is Ham Radio?