"Bert Craig" wrote:

I believe it's the job of the majority to work on getting
the FCC to view it that way. (Assuming, of course, the
majority are PCTA's. Your opinion may differ.)


But to do so would require the FCC to change the way it has viewed Amateur
Radio almost since its creation. If we argue that we're just another radio
service (like CB), with no connection to anything outside Amateur Radio
(other radio services, etc), then the argument supporting our massive
frequencies is sharply weakened. The emergency communications aspect is not
enough to support that because we can do that with far less frequencies (a
few frequencies on each band, with perhaps far less bands). We have to be
very careful here that we don't cut our leg off in the process of trying to
save the foot (or, in this case, CW testing).


My job is like that. The building is really well shielded
and I wanted to run an inconspicuous 30/40m SW+
QRP rig from my desk.


We took this apartment (paid for by the VA) to allow my wife to easily
attend school just down the street. Sadly, there is enough metal in this
building to build a few dozen Army tanks. Even worse, the apartment is
directly above the owner's apartment and he likes to spend a great amount of
time outdoors on the patios out back (the front is directly above the office
entrance). I've tried several homebrew internal antennas, but none of them
would allow me to consistently hit a repeater just a few miles away. We're
hoping that, once the owner gets used to us, he'll eventually allow a small
antenna. But, as it is now, the only way to talk on the radio at home is to
walk out onto the balcony (and the metal in the building even effects that).


Dwight Stewart (W5NET)

http://www.qsl.net/w5net/