It's about time we woke up and called something what it is.
Any CBer who does ANYTHING except hook up an unaltered 5-watt, type-accepted
CB radio to an antenna that conforms to FCC-imposed limits is OUT OF LINE and
deserves no accommodation or sympathy here. People of that ilk have chosen
to debase rather than elevate themselves. They are, to use the term bandied
about on this reflector, "Manure."
Those who choose to surmount the Olympian challenge of learning Morse code at
5 wpm (!!!!!!) and who go to a website and memorize the answers to the
written test without knowing what any of it means are now welcomed as "hams."
The people I describe try to give you their "First Personal" rather than
their name or handle (old, pre-CB usage). They don't give the other
station's callsign, only their own, more out of ignorance of ham radio
tradition than discourtesy. They try to enter an existing QSO by yelling,
"CQ-break, CQ-break." They discuss such high-flown topics as how to increase
their "PEPs" and why their "SWRs won't git low."
They are trampling down 70 years of carefully crafted amateur tradition,
parlance, operating courtesy, operating procedures and the vocabulary of our
hobby, only to supplant it with the ways of the unlicensed, uneducated
(technically), undisciplined and unwashed.
To those former CBers who learned how to operate like a ham, behave like a
ham, obey the rules like a ham and learn like a ham, I salute you! Welcome.
You have my great respect for doing what the rest of us have done: Learn
something about the background, traditions and practices of your new hobby.
A new model airplane enthusiast would never just show up at a model airplane
park and start flying his plane. He would watch attentively to learn "how
it's done" and try to emulate the successful model pilots. If he started
flying outside the traditional patterns or violated standard practices he
would get something just short of a good ol' country ass whippin' .
A fellow learning to hunt pheasants would not just buy a shotgun and head for
the hedgerows and start shooting. He would seek the advice and guidance of
experienced hunters and do whatever was necessary to avoid looking like the
beginner he is. And if he did things wrong, he would not persist in them and
tell off any experienced hunter who tried to help him or pointed out the
things he was doing wrong, because the old timers would probably shoot him on
the spot for screwing up their sport.
Traditions, use of a certain vocabulary, special methods of politeness and
ways of doing things mark every longtime and successful club, organization or
hobby.
We are loosing them all. Our traditions are being trashed. Our vocabulary
is being trashed. Our special methods of conducting ourselves including
accepted procedures are being trashed and the legendary ham politeness is
being trashed.
Of course there are idiots on 75 meters talking filthy. Of course there are
idiots on 14.178 taking up three times the bandwidth any normal considerate
ham would take up. The majority of the amateur community is repulsed and
disgusted by these characters. But the rest of us need to work assiduously
to preserve the tatters that pass for our once great avocation.
When you go to a hamfest and you see tables full of illegal CB amplifiers, do
you seek out and complain in person to the hamfests organizers? Don't take
their dumb answers about someone has a "right" to do this or that, or that
they can't stop or discriminate against CBers. That is hogwash. They can
too.
When you get into a QSO and someone gives you his First Personal and tells
you he'll be "bye," do you say in a polite way, "Say, I notice you're using
CB terms here on ham radio. We just say our "name" is such-and-such or we
say we are "standing by?" Of course the newcomer will take umbrage.
That's expected. But after ten or 20 experienced amateurs suggest there is a
better way to try to fit in, they may change.
I was sickened recently when someone on this reflector wrote sanctimoniously
that he had build an 807 amplifier as a CBer and that it was clean of
parasitics and later, it worked well on the amateur bands. What a thing for
anyone to admit to! An amateur, proud that he had broken the law!
Are there CBers who become fine amateurs? Of course. There are many, many
thousands of them.
It's just a shame that when we hams come upon CB-retentive behavior on the
ham bands, we don't point it out, try to help a person correct it and not
back down from defending our hobby against those who want its benefits but
who honor none or few of its disciplines.
Now, the immediate reaction to this will be that I am holier than Thou, that
I am setting up an arbitrary standard for ham radio behavior, that I am
belittling and talking down to former CBers.
Well, I am holier than those who broke the law before becoming a ham.
I have not set up an arbitrary standard for ham radio behavior, the whole
amateur community has. Bill Welsh has written numerous columns in CQ
magazine about this.
I am belittling and talking down to SOME CBers, the ones that broke the law
and who haven't cleaned the CB manure from their shoes when they want to
enter this hobby.
Let's try to maintain what's been built for us over 70 years. Let's expect
new hams to act like NEW HAMS and not EX-CBers.
Mike
W?YR
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