Let's Have a go at answering the inane banter that comes from Mr Evans...

"Plod's Conscience" wrote in message
ups.com...
When reading this, be on the guard against the Cry Baby (CB),
the Cackling Bully (CB) and the Complete Buffoon (CB)!

The above abbreviations reveal who really is the childish broadcaster...

What is Ham Radio?

It is becoming increasingly difficult to fly the flag for
decency and for civilised behaviour in Radio Hammery.

With people like you 'encouraging' new people to the hobby is it any wonder?

Even
the Usenet newsgroups dedicated to the cause have degenerated
into a hotbed of abusive onslaughts by those who ought to know better.

Agreed. The sense of help and encouragement shown towards all newcomers to
the hobby is very lacking. Is it any wonder a few give up and go 'off the
rails'...

However, there still exists the fundamental basis on which Ham
Radio is based, and that will never die. This FAQ ("What Is
Ham Radio?") will be regularly published and will not be
shouted or bullied down. It is important that those of a
technical bent, who are the natural seed-corn of Radio Hammery
and who gravitate towards us to be the real novitiate, can
still find us, (and know that we are still here), their fellows.

But you blatantly dismiss anyone who dare take that first step into
"Hammery" so how can they gravitate towards you?

-----ooooo-----

Please remember that this FAQ is a _POSITIVE EXHORTATION_
to you to exert yourselves to join our fraternity! (If you find
otherwise, then perhaps you are already classing yourself in the
mediocre groups of those who are criticised in the FAQ and from
whom we _MUST_ dissociate? If so - it's never too late for
a re-taxonomisation on your part - there's nothing elitist about
us, and we welcome all those who are prepared to put themselves
out in order to join our ranks!)

How are beginners expected to "put themselves out? when the only way to
"hammery" is through the M3 direction?

-----ooooo-----
So,.....What is Ham Radio?

Ham Radio is a technical pursuit for those who
are interested in the science of radio wave
propagation and who are also interested in the
way that their radios function. It has a long-standing
tradition of providing a source of engineers who
are born naturals.

Ham Radio awakens in its aficionados a whole-life
fascination with all things technical and gives
an all-abiding curiosity to improve one's scientific
knowledge. It's a great swimming pool, please dive in!

We do try but then get ridiculed by you... if you were to perhaps fill the
pool a little it might be helpful...

This excitement causes a wish to share the experience
with ones fellow man, and shows itself in the
gentlemanly traditions of Ham Radio.

Radio Hams are in a unique privileged position in that
they can construct and operate their own equipment! No-one
else has this privilege. Users, such as broadcasters,
the po lice and armed farces, CBers and mobile phone
users have to purchase ready-made gear. Manufacturers
are not licensed to operate their gear. Radio Hams
are qualified to design, build and then
operate their own pieces of equipment. They do this
with gusto, and also repair and modify their own
equipment. This is a privilege well worth the effort
to gain, and one to be jealously guarded.

To be proud of yes but jealously guarded? How are you going to guard it...
by demanding Morse be set at 20-30 WPM in_all_classes of "Hammery"

The excitement that drives a Radio Ham starts with
relatively simple technologies at first, perhaps making
his own Wimshurst machine and primary cells. Small pieces
of test equipment follow, possibly multimeters and signal
generators. Then comes receivers and transmitters. It is with
the latter that communication with like-minded technically
motivated people takes off. The scope for technical
development grows with the years
and now encompasses DSP and DDS. There is also a great deal
of excitement in the areas of computer programming to
be learnt and applied.

A bit like CB really. You start off with a basic package, you get more
interested and learn the technical skills to install your own station and
some go on to build their own antenna arrays, repair their own radio's and
that of friends then some decide to take it a step further into the Amateur
radio side of things only to meet up with people like you in the forums who
welcome with one hand then dismiss immediately with the other with long
winded diatribe...

The technical excitement motivates Radio Hams to compete
with each other to determine who has designed and manufactured
the best-quality station. This competitiveness is found in DXing,
competitions and fox-hunts.

Just like CB, I remember the fox-hunts we had in the late 70's - early 80's
and what fun they were too. I remember also the joys of DX on 11 metres,
especially the competitions and the sense of achievement in contacting those
far away stations. Seems the two hobbies are similar after all... (How dare
I make that comparison eh...)

However, beware! A Ham Radio licence is such a
desirable thing to have that there are large
numbers of people who wish to be thought of
as Radio Hams when, in fact, they are nothing
of the kind! Usually such people are a
variation of the CB Radio hobbyist; they buy their
radios off the shelf and send them back to be
repaired; they are not interested in technical discussion
and sneer at those who are; they have no idea how
their radios work inside and have no wish to find out;

Then that is appalling as most CB'ers I know are now Amateurs and are quite
respectable too. They have always shown a fascination in radio, in it's DX
use and internal workings and antenna from their CB days to today...

they are free with rather silly personal insults;

You mean like "Childish Broadcaster" "Cry Baby" "Cackling Bully" "Complete
Buffoon" "Criminals" "M3/CB fools" calling men who question them "girls" and
so on... yes, very silly...

they have not satisfied any technical qualification
and their licences prevent the use of
self-designed-and-built equipment.

You mean they haven't completed a multi-guess ticky box test? Well, unless
someone's completed one of those then they obviously must know nothing at
all...

These CB types engage in the competitive activities
with their Cheque-Book-purchased off-the-shelf radios
in a forlorn effort to prove that they are Radio Hams.

Like probably over 90% of "Full" Licence Amateurs who prefer to build only
some bits of kit and have an "off the shelf" radio as their main tool...?

No _REAL_ Radio Hams are deceived by such people!

Are you sure?

One such CB type is the so-called "Not-Ham". Otherwise
known as the CBer-Masquerading-As-A-Radio-Ham, this type
had their background in the hobby that is CB Radio and not
in the technical pursuits that lead up to a coveted Ham licence.
Easily recognised by their boasts of the criminal activity of
11 metre SSB operation, one wonders why they don't go back to
the CB Bands if such bands are dearer in their hearts than are the Ham
Bands? No _REAL Radio Hams associate with those who made an
illegal installation of transmitting equipment before being
in possession of an appropriate licence.

Several people even in this group have admitted to installing and using 2
Metre equipment before they actively became Amateurs... and some of these
'illegal's are even teachers of the hobby now...

One infallible way to disambiguate the CB Radio Hobbyist
from the _REAL_ Radio Ham is to solicit their view of the
difference between CB Radio and Ham Radio. A Radio Ham will
perceive Ham Radio to be a technical pursuit and will
perceive CB Radio to be a social communications facility
no different in essence to a land-line telephone

No disagreement there... CB radio was devised originally as a "service" for
the community to keep in local touch with each other. Then anyone wishing to
Advance would learn more and become a licensed Radio Amateur. Pretty
straightforward stuff really.

or a
GSM mobile in the hands of a 6-year-old. Thus a Radio Ham
could also hold a CB licence safe in the knowledge that
such a licence says no more about him than having a land-line
telephone, whilst continuing to regard Ham Radio as a separate
technical pursuit.

Maybe not separate, but a more advanced hobby yes. With the advent of mobile
phones and just about every UK home having a telephone of some description
why would a Radio Amateur wish to use a CB as a land-line especially as the
average CB set up has only a 5 mile radius? Your argument on this point
holds no water.

A CB Radio hobbyist, on the other hand, sees no difference between
a Ham Radio licence and a CB Radio licence. To him, they are
sisters-under-the-skin. Wrongly, the CB Radio Hobbyist then
tries to classify himself as the equal of the Radio
Ham when, in fact, he is nothing of the kind.

No CB'er I have ever met or known has ever considered or classed himself as
a Radio Ham. Maybe if you had said M3 Licence holder I could agree with you
to a point...

A sure sign of
a CB Radio hobbyist is if he holds, or has ever held, a licence
issued under the gangrenous degeneration that is the
M3/CB Fools' Licence scheme.

Floored statement once again. Every prospective Amateur needs to sit the M3
test before he advances (or not) and may have even only held said licence
for a couple of weeks to make sure he/she is comfortable with the hobby
before moving on... It is the ONLY route into "Hammery" now...

One group of people who claim to be of the standard of
Radio Hams but who are in reality nothing more than an
apology for the failure of a CBer are those class B
licensees who falsely proclaimed that they were against
the use of a Morse Test to control access to the HF
bands, until, that is, a test was introduced at their
intellectual level, the intellectual level of 6-year-olds.

Another completely floored argument. Please state how many 6 yr olds hold an
M3 or any other radio licence. I bet you could count them on one hand. Just
because a 6 yr old 'could' pass the test if he/she is intelligently bright
enough doesn't mean any 6 yr old can pass it. At 6 yrs old you are still
very very young and immature and as I have said previously, unless the
parents who are Amateurs themselves push their siblings into the hobby they
certainly wouldn't think of it themselves... And before anyone comes back
saying how simple the test is, then yes, for you it would be but not to a 6
yr old.

6 year-olds simply lack the mathematical tool kit to
enable them to handle even the simplest algebraic manipulation
for Ohm's Law and thus, the disgraceful Class Ber's in
the aforementioned category are not Radio Hams by any stretch
of the imagination!

All because they weren't interested in Morse code, that antiquated
communication method pre-dating last century and rarely used now apart from
by a few 'die hard' Amateurs. It was a different story back in the 40's and
50's. We don't even light beacons anymore to warn of invasion. Time to move
into the real world Mr Evans...

Remember - A sure sign of a CB Radio hobbyist is if he holds,
or has ever held, a licence issued under the gangrenous
degeneration that is the M3/CB Fools' Licence scheme!

No need to comment further here...

I would love to see the answers he would give to my questions but I won't
hold my breath...

He would be too busy thinking up his next diatribe against the police and
"not-hams" to concern himself with me...

Graham
--
-.-. -... / .-. .- -.. .. ---

Radio is only a Hobby. Don't let it rule your life...

73/51 - Graham, 26-Golf Charlie-19