I don't know what a "real amateur" is and I, for one, have never
claimed to be such.

However, after a number of years of contributing to Usenet under
my own name and callsign, my family was subjected to malicious
and threatening letters sent by Stephen G Bryan G0SGB in 1998,
a matter for which the plods were involved.

His criminal activities followed on from an abusive, insulting,
infantile
and obsessive tirade by him in this NG, seemingly because he was
intolerant of those who disagreed with his CBers' activity of WABbing.

Such threatening behaviour drives one underground, and also serves
to illustrate, perhaps, the difference between a _REAL_ Radio Ham
and a CBer-Masquerading-As-A-Radio-Ham?

Roy Lewallen wrote:
How come all the self-proclaimed "real amateurs" huffing and puffing on
this thread sign their postings only with a "handle" and not a call
sign? Are they really amateurs at all?

Roy Lewallen, W7EL

Polymath, you have my profound apologies on behalf of the entire
worldwide ham community for the harm you have suffered. And as I just
said in a seperate thread, it is things like this that make me think
that while governments have a right to demand the addresses of licensed
hams, it no longer has the right to publish them. That goes *double*
for hams who happen to be minors... Sadly, depravity no longer limited
to any single walk of life, and anonymity on the net is an importand
safety measure that should now go hand in hand with exercising the
right to free speech.

wrote in message
oups.com...
Polymath, you have my profound apologies on behalf of the entire
worldwide ham community for the harm you have suffered. And as I just
said in a seperate thread, it is things like this that make me think
that while governments have a right to demand the addresses of licensed
hams, it no longer has the right to publish them. That goes *double*
for hams who happen to be minors... Sadly, depravity no longer limited
to any single walk of life, and anonymity on the net is an importand
safety measure that should now go hand in hand with exercising the
right to free speech.

One thing you must take on board Poly is that these threats that anyone
receives arent from just Amateurs/CB'ers. They are from people who use a
radio just like they use forums.. to upset and bully people and to force
their sometimes vile views upon people. These people are in both Amateur and
CB circles. Its not a CB fault, its down pure and simply to "nut jobs" which
the majority of CB'ers and Amateurs arent. Unfortunately if you take a stand
against these people and your personal info is easily available for these
nut jobs then im afraid sometimes you will get threats upon yourself. Just
because you post your replys with merely a "Handle" or first name doesnt
mean your a cowering hiding lowlife, quite often its because people dont
wish to have this s_it from nut jobs thrust upon them. You can still make a
valid point without using your traceable details. I know you shouldnt have
to worry about such things but we live in the real world. As for the nut
jobs... sometimes simply ignoring them is the best thing to do. They crave
the attention. If you dont give them the attention they move on. Whatever
you say to them they will never change.......
73's
Graham

"Polymath" wrote in message
oups.com...
the difference between a _REAL_ Radio Ham
and a CBer-Masquerading-As-A-Radio-Ham?

So what does that make me???????????

rrh