Peter J. F. Shaw wrote:
> Greetings Ten-Tecers
> I have derived an opinion about the above no code licensee statistics
> based on observations and analysis made while a resident of Atlanta,
> GA and Citrus County, FL. A no code tech has no need to pay money to
> the ARRL for their services and information because many of the no
> code tech licensees aren't hams at all, but amateur licensees
> (persons) who have found a more economical (cheaper) alternative to
> cellular mobile telephone service. I hear this style of mobile
> telephone usage on the 2M and 70CM repeaters predominantly. Weeks or
> more pass without any mention of amateur radio or its related topics
> in repeater conversations. It is truly sad, and I am depressed about
> it. As I see it, the huge mistake was establishing a no code license
> class without a 2 to 4 year sunset (specific term). Here, there are
> 600+ amateur licensees in this 115K population county and you can
> count on two hands the number of hams. When times change like this,
> it isn't for the better; at least in my book.
> 73 Pete K4LDR Citrus County, FL on the Gulf of Mex
>
> --
Pete I think your way off base here. I was one of those no code techs
for a few years and I considered myself more of a Ham than 99% of you HF
guys will ever be. I design and build my own 440 and 1200 Mhz
tranceivers, Designed an entire emergency 1.2 gig hi speed APRS Packet
repeater for the County Emergency Service and then built the equipment.
I didn't subscribe to QST or join the ARRL because they dont even know
that the radio spectrum goes buyond 30 Mhz. I don't care about
contesting and I don't care what happened in the latest ARRL Weekly
convention somewhere. If I want to read a magazine I'll read CQ VHF or
Communications Quarterly. So when was the last time you designed and
built a tranceiver? When was the last time QST published an article on
APRS, Hi Speed Packed, 1200 Mhz radio development or anything not having
to do with HF contesting and DXpeditions.
Also your impression of repeater use in your area differs from mine. 60%
of the members of our repeater are General License or above. We have a
policy of emergency use only of the phone patch and anyone who has been
awake the last three years knows that a cell phone is cheaper (read free)
and at $14.00 a month provides a much more reliable communications method
than using a $400.00 radio to save a few phone calls!!! We use the
repeaters to stay in touch, ragchew and make plans to get together. I
don't see why every conversation has to be about ham radio. You can only
talk about it so much. Besides you miss the point that by using a
repeater you are involved in ham radio!
If the state of ham radio is as you say in your area then YOU didn't do
anything to improve it. You guys make me sick squawking about how the
Techs are a bunch of CBers yet you don't make any effort to get them
interested in the HF spectrum, hell most of you have never even talked to
them to see if they might like to hear about how much fun HF is. And if
it werent for the no-code license, there would be no influx of new hams
at all. Face it Gentlemen there is no NEED for anyone on this planet to
know morse code just as there is no need for anyone to manufacture buggy
whips. Is there a DESIRE for anyone to learn morse code? Yes the desire
can be fostered if you can demonstrate to a no-code tech the elegance and
usefullness of Morse as a communications mode. Hell most people that
have general and above licenses don't use code and stopped the day they
got their General. Virtuall 99% of all innovation, technical
improvementsn new communications methods and fresh ideas are taking place
in the VHF and UHF spectrum. In the next few years there will be
revolutionaly innovations in how amateurs communicate and innovate. Some
are already here Kenwood has taken the lead in bringing this technology
to the market. TV cameras that send pictures over packet, a data ready
aprs'packet HT with TNC built in. A plug-in GPS receiver will be
available in the spring. 1200 Mhz HTs with spread spectrum data
transmission will be available next year. Too bad many of these
innovations are being developed by European and Japanese Hams. They
arent being developed here in the United States because OUR hams can't
seem to agree on a future path for amateur radio where we work together,
actually try new things, and stop pointing fingers and catagorizing
people based on their license level and not on what they bring to the
hobby.
You wanna get no-code techs to upgrade to HF licenses then get off your
ass and do it!!
Just quit bitching about how everything is bad since the spark gap
transmitter went away and the transistor was invented. Its called CHANGE
and you can either shape that change to your liking or get out of the
way!
Carl Hyde
carl.s.hyde@lmco.com
Desk: (609) 866-6386
Fax: (609) 866-6414
POLITICS: From the Latin prefix "Poli" meaning "Many" and the word
"Tics"
meaning "blood sucking parasites"
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