From: Dave on Tues, Aug 29 2006 4:38 pm
LenAnderson, You have obviously made an INVESTMENT in your
technical profession.
Yes, I have. Not only has it been intellectually rewarding,
it was also monetarily rewarding...for the last 54 years.
Make one in your participation in the radio service!!
Kiss my yes, "Dave," I've "participated" in numerous radio
SERVICES of USA civil radio and in DoD contract work from
below LF to Ku-Band. In these previous 54 years I've
communicated from land, from the air, from the ocean
surface...even once "worked" a station ON the moon. Never
once in 53 years was I EVER required to either use or know
on-off-keying manual radiotelegraphy.
Amateur Radio is a SERVICE!!! If you only think of it as a hobby your thinking
is flawed.
"Dave," you are SO FLAWED that you can't think straight.
Here's the real story:
Go to the FULL Title 47, C.F.R., and LOOK at ALL the radio
SERVICES. The word "service" used in Title 47 is a
regulatory term denoting a type and kind of radio activity
being regulated under a Part. Go write the FCC if you
don't believe that. But, you won't believe that since you
are obviously stuck in some kind of "patriotic" pipe-dream
where you think a HOBBY activity is some kind of "national
service."
Look in Part 95, the Personal Radio SERVICES. In there you
will find the Citizens Band Radio SERVICE and the Radio-
Control Radio SERVICE. Those are all SERVICES, "Dave."
There is NOTHING wrong with having a HOBBY. It's a fine
hobby in fact. What is wrong, seriously wrong, with your
(observable) thinking is that US amateur radio is some
kind of quasi-military "national need" that is somehow
"important to the national welfare." It isn't. Amateur
radio is about as "vital to the nation" as CB or some
model airplane flyers on one of the 72 MHz channels.
Yes, HAMS get neat certificates from the federal government
(suitable for framing) and like to go around saying "they
are 'authorized' by the feds" as if that were some Nobel-
laureate accomplishment. It isn't. The FCC is tasked with
regulating and mitigating ALL United States civil radio.
Since amateur radio transmitters emit RF that requires the
FCC to regulate it. The FCC, or rather its predecessors
(before 1934), decided that licensing was a way of doing
that regulation. To get that license required taking a
test. That TEST was never, ever any sort of academic
achievement thing (FCC was never chartered to be an
academic institution), just something to satisfy the FCC
that a license applicant was sufficiently knowledgeable to
get that license. Note: Satisfed the FCC...not the ARRL,
NOT the nebulous "ham community" or even any "Hams in da
Hood."
Have you got that straight yet, "Dave?" Did you take some
kind of oath of "service" on getting your amateur license?
Raise the right hand and repeat after whoever was prompting
you on the oath? No? I didn't think so.
I took a REAL oath on 13 March 1952, "Dave," entering the
United States Army. A Real SERVICE, "Dave." I did my "eight"
and got an Honorable Discharge. From February 1953 to end of
January 1956 I worked HF comms in Big Time radio. You can
even download a photo essay of that from this link:
http://sujan.hallikainen.org/Broadca...s/My3Years.pdf
It's 6 MB and will take about 19 minutes download over a POTS
dial-up connection. If you look closely at those 20 pages
you won't find a single thing about "working CW" (on-off-keying
manual telegraphy) yet the whole station ran 24/7 pushing about
220K messages a month. It would be IMPOSSIBLE to send that
many (some of which were encrypted) by manual telegraphy unless
the signal battalion was doubled. It didn't have to be because
the messages got through and on-time. That was 53 to 51 years
ago, "Dave."
What do you think the military uses NOW for communications?
Data, "Dave," Data. High-speed data, "Dave," not some dinky
1200 baud amateur stuff. DIGITAL. Digital can be on-line
encrypted and on-line decrypted securely.
You show me where the REAL Services use manual radiotelegraphy,
"Dave." They don't. It is voice and/or data, most of it in
the field done DIGITALLY.
/s/ Dave, BSEE, Program Chief Engineer-retired, LGM-118A(RS), MK21/W87
WTF, "Dave?" So, you tacked on a bunch of undescribed acronym
things supposedly project numbers or IDs. Are we to be
"impressed?" I'm not. I've worked alongside and for PhDs who
didn't bother with IMAGE and all that rank-status-title BS...
WE got the job done, working together.
Amateur radio MIGHT get something done working together. But,
you olde-tymers won't. You have to RULE, holding fast to the
traditions of 50 to 70 years ago...because YOU and all the
olde-tymers had to do it so everyone else has to...and all
you olde-tymer morsemen think that "CW" is somehow "best."
It isn't "best." If you really have a BSEE instead of just
PR BS about morsemanship, you would realize that.
http://www.strategic-air-command.com/missiles/Peacekeeper/Peacekeeper...
"Dave," amateur radio isn't about missles. Save your energy
for donating DVDs of "Strategic Air Command" (starring Jimmy
Stewart) to give to impressionable youngsters.
I've been in the smoke-and-fire trade of rocket engines for a
little while (Rocketdyne Division of Rockwell International).
Trust me, rocket engines do NOT use manual radiotelegraphy.
BTW, SAC is GONE, "Dave." A whole reorganization in the USAF
some time ago. No more "oil burner routes" or flying out to
loiter near the USSR (the USSR is gone, too). BTW, there
were SSB transmitters emitting 12 KHz wide RF long before
SAC got the single-channel SSB stuff to use on such
loitering. I know, having to keep a few of those REAL SSB
transmitters running correctly.
Now, "Dave," I can't fault on-off-keying CW any. The key
fob for our 2005 Malibu MAXX uses that. Yes, the last
vestige of high-speed CW (REAL CW) done digitally. Done
by the hundreds of thousands all over the country daily.
Nearly all of them operated by unlicensed NON-MORSE-TESTED
civilians! That Chebbie got in our garage courtesy of
"investments," "Dave." Investments in REAL work, not
playing like big-time 1930s radio ops "jobs" of a long-
past age by AMATEURS.
Beep, beep,
Life Member, IEEE