This is long and I found it on an unrelated site but thought it says a lot about a lot of things !
Warning: Below you will find a pure, unadulterated rant. It is (mostly) unrelated to the traffic on this list including the message I replied to, except that when taken together simultaneously with traffic on an unrelated ham list, the the camel's back broke. You can skip the rest of this message knowing that you will easily be able to live with yourself in the morning...
I will soon have a Tech license, and I *will* pass the code element. I'll go for General as soon as I can some time out from work to study. I'm 31 years old, and passed a practice test for the 1950s Extra written exam when I was 12(yes, including all the practical vacuum electronics questions!) I grew up in a town without any hams to mentor me (at least that *I* could find), and several hours from the nearest listed VEC testing facility, but a non-ham friend gave me several old 1950s-1970s ARRL manuals and guides. That stuff was fun! If I had ever managed to get a ride to the testing center, I would have had no problem passing the 1980s tests, except for the code element (really hard to learn the code from a book). As it is, I have a vacation, er, reduced-intensity work period coming up in a couple of months, and I'll be using some of it to earn HF privileges. I will still be quite interested in 1750 meter part 15, MURS, etc. Not all my interests or needs can be addressed under part 97.
right ? So why should the book smart get the break. If you haven't
I wouldn't say the book-smart should get a break, but amateur radio is at its roots a technical hobby( after all, if you just wanted to talk, there's always Citizen's Band, MURS, or another unlicensed band). One of the stated reasons for creating an amateur radio licensing structure was to maintain base of technically skilled citizens. I would postulate that testing electronic theory and practical electronic and radio knowledge is a better aid to this than morse code, or any other mode-specific requirement, for that matter.
Technical innovation and competence were once the cornerstones of the amateur radio service, along with honor, politeness, *relevant* community service, and many other virtues, few of which seem in evidence during a bandscan. These days, it's all about contests, points, big amplifiers, complaining about how *they* (the accursed morse freaks/blasted digital morons/idiotic hi-fi AMers etc) are trying to ruin *my* hobby and steal *my* bandwidth, which was ordained from the beginning of time to be forever reserved for (holy CW, blessed digital, sublime high fidelity, etc).
Much spleen is vented on the evil terroristic baby-eater chicken-bander trucker donkeys (who apparently are not human and are not entitled to basic respect, politeness, or apparently even oxygen), and anyone who attempts to state an opinion, mention an idea, or ask a question without knowing the secret "ham dammit" society handshake risks a sudden unexpected lava bath.
Much ado is made about the dearth of new hams, and many rules-fixes are suggested without actually ever focusing on the real problem: Amateur radio (at least in the US) has gotten a reputation for being full of loudmouthed, obnoxious, incompetent, stone-age, inflexible (not to mention unkempt and stinky) dolts. I make no claims as to whether the vast majority of hams fit this categorization or not, but I don't *have* to. It is human nature to focus on the negative, and you must admit, in the ham world, there is a lot of negative to focus on. Sadly, all the good and positive things won't outweigh the rude and obnoxious ones.
Forget building positive perceptions, adapting to be relevant in the 21st century, etc. None of that will even matter until the negatives are cleaned up. For that matter, if all hams were perfect gentlemen (or ladies) all the time, unfailingly polite, helpful, honest, and any other virtues you can think of, Amateur Radio would stand a good chance of growing even if the only legal usage were QRP CW (or whichever mode you personally believe to be the least useful/popular/ relevant) .
Another thing the amateur community needs to do is to remember that they share a hobby with people whose interests are FAR different than their own.
CW guys need to understand that whatever THEY think of that element of the hobby, it is certainly not the only, or even the best, part of the hobby. It was required initially because all emergency traffic was carried in International Morse, and part of the deal giving hams legal access to the radio spectrum was that they, in a time when the emergency bands were sparsely guarded, would significantly increase the chance that someone would hear and respond to an emergency transmission. If the spirit of that rule were actually followed, all hams would instead be required to be fully versed and skilled in GMDSS operation.
Data guys should understand that they are effectively rendering unusable vast swaths of bandwidth that others feel could be more entertainingly used in other ways.
Contesting guys should understand that they are effectively rendering unusable vast swaths of bandwidth that others feel could be more entertainingly used in other ways.
Voice-comms guys should really chill when some cw op starts bleeding through their channel, especially when it doesn't impact voice *intelligibility* . Other hams have as much right to spectrum as voice hams do, and anyone who is using such a wide bandwidth, (especially the high-fi AM guys) shouldn't really complain about having to share a few hz from the middle...
Intra-amateur warfare certainly doesn't encourage *new* hams to join, and it's pretty effective at discouraging *old* hams, too. I recently discovered my father-in-law was an inactive ham. He was a prolific builder and tinkerer in his younger years (discovering his parts trove is what tipped me off), and at one time really enjoyed CW work. He ended up being inactive for a few years after a move, and when he got back on the air, he was surprised and disheartened by the serious decline in manners. Eventually, from what I can tell, the last straw came when he tried to tail-end a QSO and got reamed for it. (It's one thing to decline the contact, another to be rude, and yet another to become abusive). Result: One fewer active ham, one fewer mentor, one fewer innovator. Great job to grow the hobby.
Do not misunderstand: I don't believe that the mess I've discussed is representative of most hams. I personally know several stellar people who are outstanding hams. Certainly a few short-circuits can generate a great amount of smoke and heat, but here's my question: If these people are not representative of the amateur community, what are all the other, *good* hams doing about it, and how come I've never seen it?
And no, this isn't targeted at anyone in specific on this list. It is just that attitudes hinted at here, when multiplied by those paraded elsewhere, overloaded me. I nearly didn't hit send as it is *way* off-topic, but the thought that I might actually get a useful answer led me to send it anyway. For that matter, if it's just me, that would be useful information too, or if my perception is not totally off the mark, maybe saying it will focus the problem for others to attempt to solve...
If you actually read through this whole rant, I am abjectly sorry for having inflicted it on you. In the future I will avoid reading my email after being kept up > 24 hours followed by a four hour drive...
Warning: Below you will find a pure, unadulterated rant. It is (mostly) unrelated to the traffic on this list including the message I replied to, except that when taken together simultaneously with traffic on an unrelated ham list, the the camel's back broke. You can skip the rest of this message knowing that you will easily be able to live with yourself in the morning...
I will soon have a Tech license, and I *will* pass the code element. I'll go for General as soon as I can some time out from work to study. I'm 31 years old, and passed a practice test for the 1950s Extra written exam when I was 12(yes, including all the practical vacuum electronics questions!) I grew up in a town without any hams to mentor me (at least that *I* could find), and several hours from the nearest listed VEC testing facility, but a non-ham friend gave me several old 1950s-1970s ARRL manuals and guides. That stuff was fun! If I had ever managed to get a ride to the testing center, I would have had no problem passing the 1980s tests, except for the code element (really hard to learn the code from a book). As it is, I have a vacation, er, reduced-intensity work period coming up in a couple of months, and I'll be using some of it to earn HF privileges. I will still be quite interested in 1750 meter part 15, MURS, etc. Not all my interests or needs can be addressed under part 97.
right ? So why should the book smart get the break. If you haven't
I wouldn't say the book-smart should get a break, but amateur radio is at its roots a technical hobby( after all, if you just wanted to talk, there's always Citizen's Band, MURS, or another unlicensed band). One of the stated reasons for creating an amateur radio licensing structure was to maintain base of technically skilled citizens. I would postulate that testing electronic theory and practical electronic and radio knowledge is a better aid to this than morse code, or any other mode-specific requirement, for that matter.
Technical innovation and competence were once the cornerstones of the amateur radio service, along with honor, politeness, *relevant* community service, and many other virtues, few of which seem in evidence during a bandscan. These days, it's all about contests, points, big amplifiers, complaining about how *they* (the accursed morse freaks/blasted digital morons/idiotic hi-fi AMers etc) are trying to ruin *my* hobby and steal *my* bandwidth, which was ordained from the beginning of time to be forever reserved for (holy CW, blessed digital, sublime high fidelity, etc).
Much spleen is vented on the evil terroristic baby-eater chicken-bander trucker donkeys (who apparently are not human and are not entitled to basic respect, politeness, or apparently even oxygen), and anyone who attempts to state an opinion, mention an idea, or ask a question without knowing the secret "ham dammit" society handshake risks a sudden unexpected lava bath.
Much ado is made about the dearth of new hams, and many rules-fixes are suggested without actually ever focusing on the real problem: Amateur radio (at least in the US) has gotten a reputation for being full of loudmouthed, obnoxious, incompetent, stone-age, inflexible (not to mention unkempt and stinky) dolts. I make no claims as to whether the vast majority of hams fit this categorization or not, but I don't *have* to. It is human nature to focus on the negative, and you must admit, in the ham world, there is a lot of negative to focus on. Sadly, all the good and positive things won't outweigh the rude and obnoxious ones.
Forget building positive perceptions, adapting to be relevant in the 21st century, etc. None of that will even matter until the negatives are cleaned up. For that matter, if all hams were perfect gentlemen (or ladies) all the time, unfailingly polite, helpful, honest, and any other virtues you can think of, Amateur Radio would stand a good chance of growing even if the only legal usage were QRP CW (or whichever mode you personally believe to be the least useful/popular/ relevant) .
Another thing the amateur community needs to do is to remember that they share a hobby with people whose interests are FAR different than their own.
CW guys need to understand that whatever THEY think of that element of the hobby, it is certainly not the only, or even the best, part of the hobby. It was required initially because all emergency traffic was carried in International Morse, and part of the deal giving hams legal access to the radio spectrum was that they, in a time when the emergency bands were sparsely guarded, would significantly increase the chance that someone would hear and respond to an emergency transmission. If the spirit of that rule were actually followed, all hams would instead be required to be fully versed and skilled in GMDSS operation.
Data guys should understand that they are effectively rendering unusable vast swaths of bandwidth that others feel could be more entertainingly used in other ways.
Contesting guys should understand that they are effectively rendering unusable vast swaths of bandwidth that others feel could be more entertainingly used in other ways.
Voice-comms guys should really chill when some cw op starts bleeding through their channel, especially when it doesn't impact voice *intelligibility* . Other hams have as much right to spectrum as voice hams do, and anyone who is using such a wide bandwidth, (especially the high-fi AM guys) shouldn't really complain about having to share a few hz from the middle...
Intra-amateur warfare certainly doesn't encourage *new* hams to join, and it's pretty effective at discouraging *old* hams, too. I recently discovered my father-in-law was an inactive ham. He was a prolific builder and tinkerer in his younger years (discovering his parts trove is what tipped me off), and at one time really enjoyed CW work. He ended up being inactive for a few years after a move, and when he got back on the air, he was surprised and disheartened by the serious decline in manners. Eventually, from what I can tell, the last straw came when he tried to tail-end a QSO and got reamed for it. (It's one thing to decline the contact, another to be rude, and yet another to become abusive). Result: One fewer active ham, one fewer mentor, one fewer innovator. Great job to grow the hobby.
Do not misunderstand: I don't believe that the mess I've discussed is representative of most hams. I personally know several stellar people who are outstanding hams. Certainly a few short-circuits can generate a great amount of smoke and heat, but here's my question: If these people are not representative of the amateur community, what are all the other, *good* hams doing about it, and how come I've never seen it?
And no, this isn't targeted at anyone in specific on this list. It is just that attitudes hinted at here, when multiplied by those paraded elsewhere, overloaded me. I nearly didn't hit send as it is *way* off-topic, but the thought that I might actually get a useful answer led me to send it anyway. For that matter, if it's just me, that would be useful information too, or if my perception is not totally off the mark, maybe saying it will focus the problem for others to attempt to solve...
If you actually read through this whole rant, I am abjectly sorry for having inflicted it on you. In the future I will avoid reading my email after being kept up > 24 hours followed by a four hour drive...
