Well, Bill,
I think you're being a bit short sighted, with respect to future
use of microwave bands. But you're right on the money with respect
to commercial development vs. amateur work, in the last couple of
decades. A couple of quick points, though:
1) If you look at the early developers of tcp/ip, you'll find hams
were there, on the commercial side. Even so, in that time frame,
electronics shifted from stand-alone components to micro-scale work.
Today, only those with access to $3Bn fabs can lead. But as I go
to microelectronics clients I find a population of? you guessed it...hams.
Not JUST hams, of course, but they reflect a higher percentage of the
technical workforce than they do of the overall population.
2) If you look out 10-12 years, and could say that amateurs would be
able to work DX 24/7 without regard to the ionosphere, and without
regard to stability of the national or local power grids...and
to do so from apartments and restricted communities, and portable/
mobile stations with relative ease, I would argue THAT has value,
both in the sense of community, of public-disaster comm's, and in the
technical component of station assembly.
There is still plenty of bandwidth at 5GHz for both commercial
wireless apps and amateur activities. Huge amounts of bandwidth, in
fact.
3) If you look at the current state of software defined radio, you'll see
that it is amateurs who are providing guidance to the FCC in promulgation of
their regulations. Amateurs in their professional clothing, to be sure, but
licensed amateurs nonetheless.
4) I agree with you about 40 meters. But I've felt that way since
1958, when I was first licensed, and done 80% of my operating on the
low end.
5) BPL is still a lousy investment. Too little, too late, too complicated.
(and yes, too noisy.) BTW...at least one system proposes using WiFi to get
across the local xfmrs. Can you see an AP every 6 houses? Want to be how
your
2.4GHz cordless phones work, when that's up? Or vice-versa...will the AP's
be
dumped by the phones?
Transmitted via my C band WLAN.
N2EA
jimjarvis@ieee.org
-----Original Message-----
From: Bill Turner [mailto:wrt@dslextreme.com]
Sent: Friday, April 30, 2004 3:57 PM
To: jimjarvis@ieee.org
Cc: rfi@contesting.com
Subject: Re: [RFI] Protecting our frequencies
On Thu, 29 Apr 2004 23:00:12 -0000, Jim Jarvis wrote:
>When they're working , amateur satellites project the largest utilization
>footprint on the planet of any other aspect of amateur radio.
>
>You might consider that populating C band (5 GHz) and X band (10GHz) with
>birds and earth stations will go further toward protecting our frequencies
>than all the clever phrases.
>
>Let me suggest that supporting AMSAT is a good way to stabilize and assure
>the future.
>
_________________________________________________________
I would gladly trade all of our UHF/SHF bands for a broadcast-free 40
meters.
The future of ham radio is HF. Amateur satellites are a huge waste of
our precious resources. There is nothing satellites do that can not be
done better, faster and cheaper by other modes, including the internet.
There have been times in ham history where hams have been on the leading
edge of technology, but not now with satellites. The commercial
services are so far ahead of ham efforts there is practically no
comparison.
I am well aware of the desire to tinker with things and of course,
satellites are a tinkerer's dream come true. But for the great majority
of us, they are all but useless. Yes, I have made several dozen
contacts using the Russian satellites back in the '90s, and it was kind
of fun, but nothing that could not have been done on HF with a lot less
trouble.
Those frequencies you mentioned have enormous potential for internet
wireless and related functions and I am appalled that a few tinkering
hams would stand in the way of their usefulness to the majority of
citizens. We can play all we want in the HF and low VHF bands. When
crunch time comes, the FCC will see this and our use of those
frequencies will be history.
Flame suit on; fire away. I've heard it all before.
--
Bill, W6WRT
QSLs via LoTW
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