RadioBanter - ARS License Numbers

In article , Robert Casey
writes:

N2EY wrote:

Hams are licensed by the feds and the vast majority of them follow the
rules -
all the rules. Which means that even though they could run superpower, they
don't, and even though their rigs go outside the ham bands, they won't use
'em
there. Etc. Part of the reason is that the FCC knows where hams live, etc.,
but
a bigger part is that "it's just not done" by hams.

Most licensed car drivers follow the rules of the road even if there
are no cops around. Most understand that the system works only
because the rules are followed, and thus most do follow the rules.

Sort of.

Speed limits are routinely disregarded, even when gas prices are well over $2.
In some places things like signaling and allowing adequate following space are
the exception rather than the rule.

Ask any on-the-street LEO, EMT, or ER person about DWI.

The big difference in driving vs. amateur radio compliance is that if someone
violates the rules enough, they're very likely to wind up with a smashed-up
car. Or dead.

And the same for most hams on the ham bands. There's little point
calling CQ out of band as you won't find other hams out of band.

True. But when things get busy, like during a contest, you won't find many hams
slipping out-of-band to find a clear spot.

And there is plenty of interesting things to do in band. As for
super power, our legal limit is on the order of a kilowatt (varies
a bit depending on mode and subband) which is plenty enough if
you really gotta snag that rare DX. Throw in a beam if you
want (though beams for 160m are kinda hard to come by...).

Yep - but OTOH there are times when full legal power isn't enough.

Other rules like "no business traffic" are there to protect
our bands from being taken over by business users.

Agreed!

No broadcasting
is also there to keep the bands useable for normal 2 way comms
(think about how often you actually push the PTT button or
activate the VOX, maybe 15 minutes a day at most unless you're
calling CQ in a contest). That's a duty cycle of 1% or less
for most of us on days we turn the rig on. And if you only do
that once every 2 weeks it drops to 0.07% duty cycle. Broadcasters
are on about 100% of the time, and the bands would fill up pretty
quickly with trash. Thus that rule.

Not really.

A ham broadcaster could fire up a few hours a day, or a few hours a week, and
still have a low duty cycle.

The reason is to prevent competition to the "professional" broadcasters.

We don't have that many stupid rules nowadays. Used to be you
had to mail a letter to the FCC telling if you were going to be
mobile for more than 2 weeks. But Phil (IIRC) mentioned that
the FCC never acted on any of that stuff, so why bother making
hams do it? So it was dropped.

it used to be 2 *days* (48 hours)! If you were going to operate away from home
more than 48 hours, it was postcard time. And you sent the cards to the
district office for your portable/mobile location.

Yet as silly as the rule seems now, hams did it, because it was the rule.

Then there was Conelrad...

IOW, most of hamdom is pretty straight-arrow law-abiding.

I've committed a few infractions by accident (phone
in the CW band for example) but soon caught it and corrected
it myself.

You just proved my point! Your violations were 100% unintentional and
immediately corrected once you were aware. And not repeated.

No need for the FCC to kick down the door....
The FCC knows that people occasionally make mistakes and
only acts if you keep on doing it for long periods of time.
Then it's on purpose and you know it.

And in most cases FCC waits until there are credible complaints.

Freeband is exactly the opposite. Almost everyhting hams consider
important,
they ignore, and vice versa. So why would one be attracted to the other?

There's an outside chance that some of them don't know that ham radio
exists. Nahhhh.... not likely at all....

HAW!!

Yes, there is that chance. But the freeband folks I've met know ham radio
exists, but are not interested in being tied down by all those rules.

73 de Jim, N2EY