Kafkaësque wrote:
On 12/02/2014 00:32, Jeff Liebermann wrote:

With the onset of automatic ATUs, is the the final technical
skill that disambiguates the radio amateur from the CBer
being lost?

However, you are correct that the ATU is a dying art. I've been
zapped by the high voltages produced by antenna tuners often enough to
suspect that dying might be involved in the tuning process. If it's
not science, it must be art.

Art - most definitely. But where's the "technical skill" in adjusting a
pi network of two capacitors and one inductor?

CBers may not need to worry about ATUs, but many are quite capable of
using the pi networks on the PAs of their valved rigs which have been
re-crystalled for 6.5 and/or 27 MHz.

If memory serves, the legendary FT101 even included 27MHz coverage. It was
certainly reported to be used by more CBers than licensed amateurs.

As you suggest, CBers may have been able to compensate for the antenna
impedance over their limited bandwidth by using the Pi network.

Which demonstrates that some amateurs are put in the shade in technical
skill by CBers.