On May 3, 11:16�pm, Bill Horne wrote:
Doug Smith W9WI wrote:
If I recall properly we're secondary to the military in
that [70cm] band as well.

But the motorsports folks have no regular authority in that band at
all.

I'm not sure I understand why they thought they needed
amateur spectrum for that project. �

They obviously don't understand what amateur radio is all about.

The Pave/Paws system that is pushing some repeaters off 70cm predates
the complaints by several decades, and I take the military's new
attitude to be another nail in the coffin of ham radio's former
"favorite son" status at the Pentagon.

Maybe - or maybe not. Secondary status means no interference need be
tolerated by the primary.

There used to be a 50 watt limit on 420-450 MHz for amateurs due to
the possibility of interference to radar.

It used to be that we hams were a corps of operators who could
be pressed into service quickly during a war or other crisis.

That's still the case. But it doesn't mean that the primary users of a
band have to put up with interference from secondary users.

Now, with Morse as deeply buried as its creators and military
electronics too
secret to be entrusted to soldiers and sailors who haven't
been vetted
for security clearances, we're yesterday's news in the E ring.

I'm not sure what you mean by "Morse as deeply buried as its
creators".

We hams continue to use Morse Code on the air - extensively, too!
MARS is running Morse Code nets again, on an experimental basis.

It's true that Morse Code has all but been eliminated by the US
military for its own communications uses. That's no surprise, even
though Morse Code was used extensively by the US military in both
World Wars, Korea, and Vietnam. But that doesn't mean hams should stop
using Morse Code.

We'll have to find another reason to justify the allocations we
enjoy.

How about these:

1) Public service communications (not just in emergencies, but for
events like parades, marathons, bike races, etc.) Remember the search
for Space Shuttle debris a few years back? Amateurs provided
communications for at least some search groups, and it turned out to
be more useful and flexible than cell phones or other radio services.

2) Education in radio and electronics. Learn-by-doing, IOW. Recently,
ARRL ran a homebrew contest to design a 40 meter CW/SSB transceiver
that would use less than $50 in parts. Several entries met all the
requirements, and a winner was recently announced. What better way to
learn radio than by building an operating a homebrew station?

3) Historical preservation. We have museums, historic districts, etc.,
in other areas, why not in radio? We hams have shown that old and new
technologies can coexist, and an active operation is so much better
than a dry nonfunctional museum display.

4) Experimentation/wilderness area. Most of the rest of the radio
spectrum is channelized, digitized, and carefully planned as to its
users and uses. The amateur bands are like a wilderness area, without
all the central planning and channelization, where operator skill and
technical knowhow can try all sorts of new and old things.
And where all citizens who can pass the basic tests for a license have
access to lots of spectrum, modes, and activities.

It's going to be hard work, and not nearly as easy as learning
Morse (not that that would help now).

Morse Code is still worth learning, IMHO.

We're going to have to get better - in
fact, much better - at public relations: the Red Cross and other
disaster relief agencies have known the importance of image all
along,
but now hams have got to get in the game and advertise ourselves
as an
anlternative to traditional communications during hurricanes,
floods, earthquakes, etc.

Agreed - but also as a fun thing to do. Emergency and public service
comms are just one part of what hams do.

The key factor is that the "served agencies" want different things
today in the way of communications. In some emergencies they won't
need hams at all, in others they will really need amateurs to help
out. But they're the customer, as it were.




73 de Jim, N2EY