> From the limited times I've listened to them, the primary "public service"
> the Maritime Mobile net provides would seem to be gratis HF comms for
> wealthy yachtsmen who should be making use of commercial communications
> services. Otherwise their primary purpose seems to be to stand guard and
> keep a 20 frequency occupied 24/7. To each his own...
If I was out on the bounding main I would sure feel better if I knew that
somebody was keeping a 24/7 watch on a frequency like 14.300 or 14.313 (or a
number of other similar frequencies) in case of a calamity at sea. "Wealthy
yachtsmen" notwithstanding (some might say the same of "wealthy
radiosportsmen" and their weekend activities), these nets provide an
important communications resource via the Amateur Service. Let's not fall
into the trap of self-importance.
I don't think the races-on-streets analogy works because there is an agency
with the authority to restrict access (the police and transportation
departments) during events. No such authority exists in ham radio. I had a
similar conversation about contesting vs. non-contesting and the analogy of
bands as "parks" proved fruitful. Ham bands are like unmanaged parks that
must support multiple uses by many different users. Public parks usually
have an administering authority that controls usage while ham bands only
have the wideband/narrowband demarcation. Thus, there is no way to manage
high impact uses such as reservation or scheduling systems - there is only a
bulletin board on which notices of upcoming activity can be placed.
Groups and individuals that use the park on a regular basis at certain spots
and times have an expectation (rightly or wrongly) of a certain type of
experience in the park. When a large event (think Barbara Streisand's free
concert in Central Park) occurs, that expectation is not going to be met,
even though those groups are entirely within their rights to attempt their
regular usage. Even though the event-goers are not supposed to "willfully
interfere" with the regular groups, just the "incidental interference" from
sheer volume makes the probability of the regular groups being successful
extremely low. It also makes the probability of conflict extremely high.
As many have observed, there are "other parks" (i.e. - the WARC bands) and
the parks usually have unused areas (i.e. - other modes) that are available
even at times of peak occupation. If I was planning a peaceful picnic or my
chess club's weekly outing, it would certainly behoove me to check the park
bulletin board to see if Free Concert Day was coming up. Nevertheless,
moving to an alternate park or location doesn't always work because of
scheduling or suitability. Groups that provide services must be present at
known locations and times.
Public resources, such as parks, depend on a managing authority to limit
conflicts over usage. We don't have that in ham radio, nor do I think we
want to create one. What we really need is education about where activity is
and is not likely to be and when. Contesters use contest calendars to
schedule events. How many casual and non-contest operators see those
calendars? Precious few. To use the park analogy one more time, if the
bulletin board is not convenient to read or the information unclear, doesn't
that guarantee unpleasant interactions?
With email access rapidly becoming ubiquitous, there is really no reason why
each and every ham shouldn't have access to the park bulletin board on a
regular, say weekly, basis. Yes, there are a number of newsletters and
such, but the information is really sprinkled far and wide. The ARRL Letter
has a list of contests, but no indication of which are big or small and what
frequencies they are likely to occupy. Contest calendars are not on the
average ham's list of things to browse. The Rate Sheet has 10,000
subscribers, but not so many non-contesters.
Blocked off streets, congested parks, and noisy festivals are just part of
normal life. We learn to get along with such disruptions by using
communications to avoid them, join them, or cope with them. No reason why
ham radiots can't do the same.
73, Ward N0AX
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