"N2EY" wrote:

Are they the model we hams should follow, or should
we take them as a cautionary tale of what could happen
to us?


I wasn't offering CB as a model. In fact, because of its rather unique
history, I don't think one can use CB as a model for much of anything. CB
went to h*ll in a hand basket after Hollywood associated it with the illegal
activities shown in several movies of the time (Convoy, Smokey & the Bandit,
and so on).

The movie, Smokey & the Bandit, was almost classroom instruction on how to
use a CB radio, with Bert Renolds ("Bandit") showing Sally Fields ("Frog")
what buttons to push and what to say. As you may remember, this movie was
about a trucker moving illegal cargo across the country as quickly as
possible, while "Bandit" (with "Frog" riding along) distracted police away
from the truck using his faster car. CB radios were used throughout the
movie.

Obviously, movies like these attracted people with the same "outlaw"
mentality to CB Radio. Today, these people attract others like themselves to
CB Radio. However, if Hollywood had used Ham Radio in those movies instead,
perhaps these same people would have been attracted to Ham Radio and Ham
Radio would have the problems today instead of CB Radio. But, as it is, Ham
Radio does not offer the same attractions for these people (the "outlaw"
image, anonymous operation, and so on). Because of that, most of these
people have no interested in Ham Radio. The few who are interested in Ham
Radio are attracted for what Ham Radio has to offer, not what CB has to
offer. Therefore, these people are not likely to display the same CB-like
behavior in the Ham Radio frequencies. The fact that a good number, perhaps
the majority, of today's Ham Operators owned a CB radio sometime in the past
(or present) supports this conclusion.


Now which is the better deal?


My message was an attempt to undermine Bruce's many posts trashing
Technicians (he is the one constantly bringing up the CB nonsense), not to
make any real comparisons between CB and Ham Radio (or CB'ers and
Technicians).


Dwight Stewart (W5NET)

http://www.qsl.net/w5net/