On Feb 21, 11:56�pm, John Smith I wrote:
Stefan Wolfe wrote:

* [a LOT of stuff I clipped]

Yes. *Yes I am loyal to amateur radio.

However, I am not loyal to antique radio gear,
nor antiquated methods,
beliefs and practices. *I am NOT loyal to personalities, but
DAMN LOYAL
to principals, advancement and progress.

OK so far - as long as there's room for the old as well
as the new.

My interests in electronics and things relating to
electronics have also
held my interests and "loyalties."

Same here.

*However, electronics have evolved.
Most of the electronic "gear" I now work with is
never meant to be
built, maintained nor repaired by human hands. *
It is meant to grow
obsolete in a matter of years and be replaced. *

What used to be called "planned obsolescence".
Not a new idea at all the term has been around
more than 50 years.

Is planned obsolescence a good thing?

When amateur radio
becomes current, its' gear will be of a likewise state.

Is that really in our best interests?

Things change. *

*Some* things change. And not all change is for
the better.

Amateur radio does not exist in a vacuum, it must adapt
also. *It has been held hostage by a relative few who
have stalled its' advancement.

You mean the FCC.

*However, it always has been subject to the same rules
which govern all: *Adapt and evolve or become extinct.

Ever hear of a fish called the coelecanth?

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Coelecanth

The oldest fossil coelecanths date back 410 million years. Coelecanths
were though to have gone extinct
more than 65 million years ago - until living
specimens were found...

How did they survive so long without changing?

There are lots of other examples. Evolution is
more complex than "Adapt and evolve or become extinct."


Now, at this brink of extinction, it is time for change ... and no one
likes change but a wet baby--and even they often cry when the change is
implemented ...

What brink of extinction?

There are over 650,000 hams in the USA alone.

And I, for one, do like change - if it's change
for the better.


All of us will die, let amateur radio live on and eventually reach a
state where none alive today would ever recognize it, but most of all,
let it become relevant and important and of valid use to those of the
future who we will never meet. *Let us leave them something they can
thank us for.

Such as?

Jim, N2EY