On 5/23/2017 8:05 PM, Michael Black wrote:
On Sat, 20 May 2017, Vassilis Spiliopoulos wrote:

Ham law is an absolute joke.Law banning people from using the airwaves
legally like if using a transceiver is using a rifle.It is also
creating a form of elitism over who uses the radiowaves because most
hams in my country are a bunch of snobby oldies who think that they
own the amateur bands and essentially jam and prohibit anyone else
from using it.Their clique is a retarded form of elitism and
exclusionism against people who are also genuinely interested in the
hobby yet are unable to get a licence for various reasons(mostly the
exam date being a completely unsuitable day for people

I think you flunked history when they were talking about the history of
radio.

They knew about radio for some time, but it was a laboratory curiosity.
Nobody had any plans for it, and it wasn't useful as they knew it.

But then Marconi, who didn't invent radio but helped to make it
practical, started playing with it, he had no background in technical
matters. And he spanned the Atlantic in December of 1901, proving that
radio could be used for distant communication.

That caused some interest in radio, including hobbyists. It was up for
grabs, so people played with the technology, not that it was complicated
back then. I gather that even newspapers would show how to build those
primitive radios. And there was no regulation.

Maybe the first set of rules related to ships needing to carry radio,
though now I can't remember. But the Titanic did carry a radio, and the
aftermath of that sinking was that in the US all radio stations be
licensed. I imagine other countries implemented similar rules soon after.

But initially it was just a license. I dont' think there was a
technical requirement, but that did arrive at some point. Radio was
contained in a very small slice of spectrum, below the current AM
broadcast band, since that was seen as the prime frequencies. So
everyone overlapped, and there were problems, causing more regulations
about operation.

I'm not sure without looking when an actual exam for ham radio came
into effect. WWI caused most radio activity, what there was, to be shut
down, so things were well along at that point, though of course the
military made use of the still primitive radio.

After WWI, there was reluctance to let loose the spectrum again, but
people campaigned for it, so it didn't remain the domain of the
military. And amateur radio got spectrum, though they were banished to
"useless" frequencies, above the current AM broadcast band.

And then further evolution. People saw that there were more people who
could listen than transmit, so broadcasting started up. In December of
1921, there was a test to span the Atlantic again, just like Marconi 20
years before, except with the "useless" higher frequencies, and it
worked, so suddenly there was more spectrum available, and hams were
given slices of it, rather than having it all.

The rules were slowly but constantly evolving, to reflect changes in
radio use, and changes in the technology of radio.

At some point, a technical exam, as well as a morse code exam, became an
entry requirement for ham radio. Note this wasn't hams wanting to lock
out others, it was implemented by governments. The morse code
requirement was an international regulation.

Amateur radio exists today because it existed at the dawn of radio.
They were a founding component of radio. Unlike all the other radio
services, it is a place to play with the technology of radio, so if you
want to build a radio controlled airplane, you can (licenses
specifically for radio control came much later). But since you can
build your own transmitters, some level of competence was needed. The
whole regulation thing was to ensure that radio use wasn't random, that
the frequency for emergency ship to shore communication wasn't
interfered with by some fool who thought he "had the right" to use the
radio spectrum. So different services get different frequencies, and
since amateur radio is so open, there is a test to limit the damage you
might do.

Hams aren't an elite group, but the tradeoff of having access to the
radio spectrum has meant some skill is required.

If you don't want to take the test, I would point out that now everyone
has access to radio, they are called cellphones. No previous time in
history has the public had such access to radio, though they think it's
a phone and pay dearly for the needed infrascructure. They don't need a
license because the corporation takes care of it, and don't need to know
how it works because the corporations take care of it.

The test is in part about making sure you understand this. Of course
any fool bootlegger can buy a transmitter and blast away, and cause
interference, but at least the people who want to do it legally realize
the rules are for the public good. If anyone could do anything, the
radio spectrum would not be useful for anything.

It's like a national park. Kept for the public good, there are rules in
order to make sure it doesn't all fall apart.

Michael

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Well, you indeed need a licence for installing a cell tower.
But still the way exam dates are planned and organised, as well as the
exam material itself is not of the best quality.That is the main topic
of this series of posts.To prove that ham radio ISNT THAT CRAZY and
should not be that heavily restricted.
Apart from that, I am complaining about the behaviour of certain
operators, especially on the VHF band.