In article , "Mark Little"
writes:

"Dave Heil" wrote in message
...
snip
The idea that non-amateurs "not understanding" amateur radio is false
and little more than an attempt at rationalization of their own
ignorance.

The idea that one who has no experience in using amateur radio has no
real feel for amateur radio is no falsehood.

Nonsense. There is nothing in life that is so insular that one cannot get a
"real feel" of it by doing similar things.

The question, then, is "what is a similar thing?"

What would be similar to, say:

- having a baby
- running a marathon
- playing a musical instrument really well

(others are invited to add to the list)

I've worked in commercial/scientific radio communications as well as being
an Amateur and there is a great deal of similarity between the operations -
there are licences, there are regulations, there are serious conversations,
there are "rag chew" conversations, there is problem solving and information
exchange. These is even a "siblinghood" (is that the PC equivalent of
"brotherhood"? ;-) ) amongest the operators.

There are also big differences.

What exactly are you suggesting is so different in AR that it is completely
alien from any other activity?

Several things:

1) Hams have a level of freedom pretty much unmatched in other services. Wide
variety of modes, bands, technologies, and activities. No channelization or
requirement to use certain types of equipment.

2) Hams are almost all self-funded and noncommercial, using their own equipment
on their own time.

3) [this it the really big one] Amateur radio is, at its core, radio
communication for its own sake. To other services, radio is but a means to an
end, but to hams the medium really is a big part of the message. Or to put it
another way, the ham's journey is as important, if not more important, than the
destination.

This is why certain things from other services don't apply to hams.

The person watching TV usually doesn't care how the signal gets to the set -
VHF, UHF, terrestrical, satellite, analog, digital, cable, fiber, whatever. All
the TV viewer cares about is how good the picture, sound and program are.

The military communications folks don't care how the messages are carried, just
so the messages get where they need to be, when they need to be there, without
the bad guys knowing about them.

Do you know or care how your email and postings get to and from your computer?
If you're like 99.99% of the online population, it's not an issue as long as it
happens.

Heck, many if not most cellphone users don't even think in terms of "radio" -
the cellphone to them is a telephone without wires, that's all. (In fact I have
had people tell me that a cellphone is *not* a radio!)

The radio amateur does radio, for the most part, for purely emotional reasons.
IOW, because it's fun, rewarding, challenging, educating, etc. "Radio for it's
own sake".

This is why modes like Morse code, AM voice and Baudot FSK RTTY continue in use
in amateur radio. Hams like them. They're fun, and they work.

Ignorance would be to
assume that because one has experience in another service, that all of
his experience in that service directly transfers to amateur radio.

This is more accurate as there are some subtle differences between even very
similar activities.

And some very big differences. Much of what is done in other radio services
does not transfer to amateur radio at all. For example, every other radio
service I know of seeks to eliminate the need for a skill in the operation of
the radio equipment. They think in terms of "user", not "radio operator". And
given their constraints, it may make sense to do so, because it is usually less
expensive to buy sophisticated equipment than to pay a skilled radio operator.
But to hams, radio operating skill is the whole point.

73 de Jim, N2EY