On Sun, 29 Feb 2004 09:30:30 -0500, Mitch Dickson wrote:

It is nice to know that the good friends at ARRL sold us out!

We (you and me) don't own any bands or frequencies. They are public
property just like federal land is public property and FCC is supposed to
administer that property for the benefit of its owner, old John Q Public.
Happily, they have set aside a part of that public property for nonprofit
recreation and public service. That's the part we like to think is "ours".

Morse Code was important back when the only way to modulate information onto
a carrier was to turn the transmitter on and off but now days it is an
anachronism, like starting fires with flint and steel or hunting with a bow
and arrow. It may be fun but its only value is the recreation it provides
its adherents. That may or may not justify keeping the Morse-only bands (ie,
use it or loose it OM) but it certainly cannot justify denying people access
to what is after all their own public property.

The same applies to the technical side. It was important to be able to
sketch a Colpitts or Hartley oscillator, and know the difference, back when
we had to build our own equipment or at least repair it. But modern
tehnology has reduced us all to "appliance hams". I can buy an FT-840 for
$500 or an equivalent kit for $1200. The latter is FB if you get $700 worth
of fun from soldering but even that requires little technical knowledge. So
why use theory bar John Q from using his own property? Because he says
"good buddy" instead of OM and 10-4 instead of "Roger that!"??

Crowded bands? I work with an environmentalist. He frets over all the
crowding and pollution. He wants his kids and grandkids to enjoy the same
wide open places he did. Trouble is, he and others like him fathered so
damn many kids they filled up all the open places and bands. So who to
blame? Why ARRL of course! (c:

73 K3DWW