RadioBanter - View Single Post

Jeff Davis[_2_] · August 11th 09, 11:04 AM posted to rec.radio.amateur.moderated

On 2009-08-11 01:28:09 -0400, (Dave Platt) said:

Disagreement? Bad press? Hard feelings? Quite possibly.

Good point about the bad press. I suppose if it were ever to happen
that a person plowed into a school bus (heaven forbid) because they
were distracted by operating their ham radio equipment, and the
mainstream media got hold of the public letters sent by the president
of the ARRL to the National Safety Counsel explaning how radio hams
should be exempt from any laws preventing their use of radio equipment
while driving ... it could get fairly ugly.

And I still wouldn't rule out financial liabilty, especially since
these things tend to follow the money. And while suing the bejeezus out
of WD9GCT might not yield much dough, suing the ARRL just might and of
course that is the way lawyers think.

The points made about 'simplex' operation versus 'duplex' may very well
be valid, but it's also a bit of a red herring since other modes of
operation are available to the radio amateur.

A few years ago I was having an enjoyable CW QSO with a fellow in
Wisconsin who had a great fist but every now and then it would fall
apart. Eventually he apologized for his "bad" fist explaining that the
highyway he was driving on had a lot of chuck holes and was in need of
repair.

He was operating CW with a key strapped to his thigh -- while driving to
work.

I like ham radio, and I like that guy ... but I don't want him
operating a moving vehicle anywhere within a hundred miles of me or my
family... even when all else fails...

73 de Jeff