Fred Hambrecht wrote:
It's Not a Code, no code problem, it's a generational problem!

In the past week, the articles that seemed to get the most play on ham sites
were the Southern Border Volunteers and the lack of brotherhood in ham
radio.

I was amazed at the responses that were both negative and critical of
supporting a group that wanted to protect our borders. I suspect some
passengers were probably tsk tsking the only guy in four airplanes with the
guts to do something to stop the rag heads on 9/11.

The hijackers on Flight 93 were stopped by more than one guy. And the
people on the other planes did not know the hijackers were on a suicide
mission.

How else can you explain
rag heads armed ONLY with box cutters were able to control three airplanes?

Simple:

- The hijackers killed one or two people who tried to resist.
- Then they said they had a bomb aboard.
- They also said that if the passengers did as they were told, nobody
else would get hurt.

You have to remember that before that terrible morning 5 years ago,
suicide-hijacking was unknown. Hijackers took over planes to get
ransom, or to get transportation somewhere, or for political reasons.
They always had demands and always promised that if their demands were
met, nobody would get hurt or killed. And the conventional way of
dealing with them was to do what they wanted, get the plane on the
ground safely, negotiate, and then go after them on the ground.

All that changed on Sept 11, 2001. Look what happened when that
shoe-bomb guy tried it.

The folks on Flight 93 had two things the people on the other flights
did not:

1) They *knew* the rules had changed - they knew what the hijackers
were going to do.

2) They had time to formulate a plan and time to implement it.

Many of the younger generation find it easier to criticize than take action.

Just like their predecessors.

Ham radio went to hell when Dick Bash got involved with his published "cheat
sheets".

Well, I don't know if it "went to hell" but I agree 100% that Bash's
"cheat sheets" were a very bad thing for amateur radio.

Remember, though, that it was the top folks at FCC who decided not to
prosecute Bash. Lower-level FCC officials had evidence against him, and
wanted to go after him with criminal charges - but the leadership said
no. Those FCC folks who decided to let Bash get away with his "cheat
sheets" almost 30 years ago were not young people then.

This piece is from the prospective of a ham with over 50 years spewing RF
throughout the world. At 68 years of age, I look back at my start in ham
radio, appearing before a steely eyed FCC examiner in Norfolk Virginia. I
missed the distance for a Conditional license by about 11 miles. I had to
walk between school and home in the snow, uphill both ways.

HAW! That's a good one!

Do I think that everyone should have to do what I did to become a ham?
Nope, I can live with the memorized exams, the no code, etc. Like the
parable of the workers in the vineyard, I accept the rules have changed. At
no place in the parable does it tell the late arriving workers to ridicule
those that worked all day.

But is it fair that someone who works an hour should get the same pay
as someone who works ten hours doing the same thing?

Just as sure as these words are on your screen, you too will someday be an
old fart just like me. As you enter the dotage of your life, health concerns
and the condition of your aged friends, becomes more of a concern. We, like
you, used to talk about more contemporary subjects. Unlike a number of you,
we allowed the older folks to have their conversations without ridicule. It
is called respect, and is a two way street. Realize that when I was a newby,
I suffered the same as you at the hands of the old farts. They believed that
for you to enter their group, you should first show respect and learn to
snatch the pebble from their hand.

Well, I'm 52, and next month I will have 39 years as a radio amateur.

None of you started in your working life as the CEO of the company, yet many
of today's generation feel that a newly minted license conveys total
knowledge. What you have is a license to learn, take advantage of it and the
brotherhood will naturally follow.

If we all took the time to show each other respect, and be less quick to
judge, not only would ham radio be better, but our lives as well.

That I can agree with!

73 de Jim, N2EY

Not an appliance operator.