RadioBanter - where PCTA's fail in logic

On Sun, 28 Sep 2003 08:22:21 -0500, "Clint" rattlehead at computron
dot net wrote:

"Dwight Stewart" wrote in message
thlink.net...

Actually, once code testing is gone, the pro-testing crowd is not going
to
have much to say.

Do you honestly think so? I disagree.... at least for a stretch of time,
anyway.
It IS human nature, depending on each man's capacity and staying power,
that is, outright fortitude, to eventually back off when they see that they
have
lost or are paddling up stream... and the time this takes, as I said,
depends
on the nature of each person's character... So, in the long run, I agree
with you;
they'll drop off in staggered two's and three's and dozens.. but for a while
it'll be pretty nasty and, quite frankly, since the issue will be over I
wouldn't see
much point in continueing to debate them. You only think they're getting
vicious and nasty NOW, just wait until they find thier security blanket has
been taken from them in the name of "grow up, you're not a child anymore".

Obviously, you weren't a regular participant in this NG back in
1999-2000 when the FCC eliminated the 13WPM and 20WPM code tests.

If you go back and read their Report & Order from that action, you can
see that the writing has been on the wall for a complete removal of
code testing ever since. The last three years of quoting and requoting
the same drivel - on both sides of the issue - has been nothing more
than a diversion for its participants, myself included. The fact is
that unless FCC does a complete 180 on it this time around (and
there's really no reason to expect that it will), the code test is
already dead and is just waiting for the doctor to sign the death
certificate so that the undertaker can wheel the corpse away for the
wake and subsequent burial.

The wake will undoubtedly be held here in rrap, where many will call
it the end of ham radio (at least half a dozen other significant FCC
actions over the past 50 years were also termed to be "the end of ham
radio") and will continue to flame everybody in sight, especially the
newcomers to the hobby and the people who will upgrade from no-code
Techs to General and Extra without the hindrance of a code test. No
matter how many no-code HF ops make DXCC, they'll continue to read the
same "Know Code, Know Ham -- No Code, No Ham" crap that's been posted
on UseNet since the dawn of personal computers.

Childish? Yes, certainly...and the temper tantrums thrown by children
who sense they aren't about to get their way is usually nothing
compared to what happens when that suspicion is confirmed.

Fortunately, there are many others who have cooler heads and who will
continue to value their participation in the ARS whether it has a code
testing requirement or not. In time, their actions will influence most
of the tantrum-throwers to wipe the tears from their eyes and see the
light, and then ther majority of hams will return to the time-honored
practice of extending appropriate respect to fellow hams regardless of
license class or particular interests within the hobby...because in
the final analysis, whether you're talking CW, phone, PSK31, SSTV, or
operating model RC cars and airplanes with black flags on 'em, it's
all ham radio.

Sadly, the pro-coders don't even seem to realize that all this is their
own doing - their own behavior is responsible for their declining numbers
(and perhaps, to some extent, even the removal of code testing). After
talking to some of the pro-coders in this newsgroup, very few new
operators are exactly inspired to continue talking to them (on the CW frequencies or
elsewhere). By driving new operators away, they have insured their own
decreasing numbers. And those decreasing numbers have seriously undermined
support for code testing.

I'm sure this applies to many, in this NG and out. In fairness, I must
say that I don't think it applies to all, or even to a majority. If I
did think that, I'd be tempted to return my license for cancellation
rather than to give the impression of being a part of it. Bottom line
though - I think most hams (on both sides of this debate) are above
the nonsense that you refer to...and that's definitely a good thing,
because I think the ARS is going to need the leadership of those with
the cooler heads if we see a significant influx of newcomers to the
hobby as a result of the elimination of the code test (and I think
there's a very good chance that we will see such an influx). Those who
are willing to accept them as fellow hams and welcome them into the
fold and pass along the knowledge they'll need to help them grow in
the hobby will be doing what ought to be done. Those who talk down to
the newcomers, referring to them with the same variety of derogatory
names that we see used here in rrap, well, I hope they won't act that
way on the air too...I hope they'll think about what's best for the
ARS and set a better example than that for the newcomers to follow.

And on that point i'll agree with you totally, 100%. Within this newsgroup,
as you said, they not only do NOT inspire any sort of good will feeling or give
forth the same warm fuzzy glow feeling that the new hams found or thought to have
found when they entered the community. One even posted "i'm appalled",
saying he/she felt that what was SUPPOSE to have been a community of "friendly and
cooperative hams" had quite it's fair share of conflicting personalities and
ideology.

Well, that strikes me as perhaps a little bit of naivety (sp?) at work
there, because common sense dictates that if you get any sizable
enough group of people together, you're going to have people of widely
varying ideology and personalities in the mix. One should not be
surprised to find this to be the case.

What should be considered surprising is that any ham, regardless of
his/her personal interests or license class, should value amateur
radio so little as to stoop to placing their own selfish agendas ahead
of what is in the best interests of the ARS.

On the other hand, since I'm the one who keeps repeating that common
sense isn't really so common, perhaps I shouldn't find this so
surprising either.

It's very sad. If the old gaurd hasn't understood or seen by now
that the mentality of "you're a child and stupid, you need to do what we say"
(and, in so many words, this is exactly what the collective thinking of the PCTA
has been) isn't going to attract new hams, then they also don't realize the
fundamental error that is resident within them, and that is THIS... a continued agenda
such that they uphold will do far more to destroy ham radio than any change in
testing requirements OR indirect problems (such as the current BPL
controversy) will EVER do.

Well...in some cases that's just it, they don't want to attract new
hams, because new hams means more competition for the use of the
exclusive slices of the RF spectrum that the "old guard" you refer to
enjoys the use of. This certainly does not apply to everyone - I know
some guys who literally have been licensed hams longer than I've been
alive, and I don't think they have that attitude - but I agree that
every ham who does display that attitude is doing a disservice to the
ARS and to those of us in the hobby who try to look out for what is in
the best interests of ham radio, even if it means we sometimes have to
compromise what's best for ourselves.

I have tried my darndest do continue to post, for the benifit of the
undecideds and the new hams that don't quite know where thier ideological compass
points to in this hobby yet that the problem isn't the mode of operation itself. I
have even stated that my first many QSL cards were covering contacts made in
CW. The newbies and undecides see now that the problem resides in the
PCTA, for the PCTA will not argue the true debate but attempt to spin
and twist it into something different... like many who support an erroneous
idea, they attemp at ever turn in the road to turn the argument on it's
axis and aim the very people instead of the issue. My honest feeling,
due to my personal beliefs about human beings and thier psychology,
is that the newbies will react (and have been doing so) toward this in a
negative way (as far as the PCTA crowd's interests) and, in so many
bloated but passionate words I have repeated just what you have.

The PCTA have themselves to blame.

Only the ones who do so for their own selfish reasons, rather than
doing it because they honestly believe it to be the correct thing to
do. This does not, and is not meant to, excuse insulting fellow hams
(especially in a public forum such as UseNet that is open for perusal
by hams and non-hams alike)...I simply mean to say that it's one thing
for someone's beliefs to differ from another person's, but it's
entirely another thing for someone to ignore what they know is right
because there's more benefit in it for themselves to go that route.

Often in life, what we say is less important than the way we say it.
There's plenty on both sides of this debate who are, or have been,
guilty of failing to recognize that. There are also folks on both
sides of the debate who've been able to resist the temptation to get
frustrated with the folks on the other side and open fire with both
barrels. While I must disagree with their opinions, I can at least
respect them as fellow hams and tip my hat to 'em for keeping it on an
appropriate level.

As for those who can do no better than to hurl insults and derogatory
names at anyone who doesn't share their own views, I can only take
solace in the fact that their own actions will most likely preclude
them from ever becoming leaders in the amateur community...and as far
as I'm concerned, that's definitely a good thing, because leadership
like that we can do without!

My $.02 worth

And I, for one, thank you for it, Clint...you catch a lot of BS from
some corners in rrap because people here like to trip others up on the
least little error, but I think you're heart is in the right place,
and that's the most important thing.

73 DE John, KC2HMZ
Tonawanda, New York