On Mon, 29 Sep 2003 20:40:02 -0500, "Clint" rattlehead at computron
dot net wrote:

"Leo" wrote in message
.. .
Clint, that's something that I agree with you 110% on.

This type of attitude is not productive, and does nothing to further
the cause of the hobby.

Hoping that BPL will destroy Amateur Radio to spite the 'no coders' is
a nonsensical position to take. Sour grapes, I believe, is the term
for this type of thinking!

73, Leo


It's like taking off your nose to spite your face... I love this hobby,
it's a blast; it has so many avenues to pursue and so many different
ways to enjoy it. I even like it because it adds to my shortwave
listening pleasure!

Same here - I started out listening to shortwave too, and had this
urge to go further with it, to talk back to the DX...it still amazes
me!

Why wish it destroyed? How horrible! The very reason I state the
feelings I have to the controversial issues that are posted is because
I feel, ultimately, that I would like to see as many potential hams
come into this hobby as possible.

Thinking such as our WA8 friend displays is not going to do the hobby
any good at all. If the regulators get the idea that this isn't
important to us, and with the pressure that the power companies are
putting on them, it might just happen...

I think a lot of people are constantly worried about the
low calibur class of people that would flood the hobby; some, I think,
are people that simply don't want just anybody coming into the hobby,
but would rather see a small slice of the population that meets thier
criteria join and nobody else. Both are negative for ham radio, because
i'm sad to say, the first group I mentioned still wouldn't be willing to
try to pass a written test and probably wouldn't be able to; as for
the second group of potential hams I listed, well, there just won't
be enough of them to keep ham alive.

Both sides of the argument seem to share the desire to bring in new
people to the hobby. Quality of the new operator, though, is a major
concern - I really don't believe that the standards up here are tight
enough right now (theoretical testing, forgetting the Code part for a
moment...) - as I mentioned, I had a licence, a bunch of radio stuff
that I bought at hamfests and hooked up - and no real idea what to do
next. Some feel that CW is the answer - some want to see more theory.
All (with some exceptions ) love the hobby as much as we do, maybe
more, and want to preserve and protect it. Explains why some of the
discussions are so - uh - passionate....

What do you have if you allow ham radio to stagnate? And leo,
of this i'm serious.... you have a hobby that loses what little
clout it has with the FCC because of DROPPING membership,
and thus, we'll see MORE of our bands taken away that are
above 30 megs (I am STILL ****ed off that we lost 220! And
I understand that the U.P.S., that petitioned successfully to
steal 220-222 megaherts away from the hams, don't even
use it anymore!)

That is unfortunate indeed, and demonstrates the power of industry.
We still have the 220 MHz band up here, Amateur exclusive - not sure
if that will change, but it does highlight what can happen if we don;t
work together as a team. Big business has great influence over
government up here - and I suspect there too!

So, if you still have your 220 rig, come on up and visit - it's still
good here!

God, let's work together and keep this going.
You and I and many people in here may have our differences,
but we're both ham operators and enjoy our hobby.

Fully agreed - we got off to a bit of a bad start (!), but it ends
here......

Hell, leo, meet me on HF sometime and we'll have a ball.

Deal. You know, if we can work things out this calmly, there just
might be hope yet! I think that, in many ways, you and I are
coming from the same place!

Now, if we can all just focus on some of the things that threaten the
hobby...there's a hell of a lot of work to do!

55, 73 Leo


Clint
KB5ZHT