> >Sturgeon's Law says,
> >"90% of everything is crap." He was being generous. The tiny remaining
> >percentage that is not crap generates all of the advances that drive
human
> >progress. The Amateur Service is just one way of enabling the non-crap
to
> >be created - packet radio, APRS, novel antennas, survivable ad hoc
networks,
> >interesting propagation discoveries, etc. etc. We just can't know where
> >it's going to come from, so we have to leave ourselves openings for it by
> >not occupying or consuming all resources for the currently defined
utility.
>
> _________________________________________________________
>
> Those things are all great fun to tinker with and use, but I doubt if
> any of them were pioneered by hams. As far as I know, the military and
> commercial services are way ahead of us in everything you mention.
ALL of those things were invented and pioneered by hams for ham radio. (I am
referring to the NTS and packet radio networks as "survivable ad hoc
networks" - I just gave it the modern marketing-speak name.)
> Not to take away from the great traditions of amateur radio, but in
> nearly every field we have been outstripped by the military and
> commercial boys. They have essentially unlimited funding and we work in
> our garages in our spare time. Is anyone surprised?
You sell us short, sir. One good example - the X.25 protocol was created in
industry, but hams turned it into AX.25 and used it over the radio, which
had "no utility" for indutry. Today, packet radio has been adapted to many
industrial, military, and public safety uses. Packet cluster is another
example. We take what they build for a specific requirement and "hack" it
into new forms. Occasionally, these efforts bear fruit in a big way. As a
society, we would be fools to let this resource slip away because we are
viewing everything between the narrow blinders of immediate commercial
utility. Why do you think car manufacturers support racing? Not so we can
all go 300 mph in less than 10 seconds, but one reason is certainly to let
the motivated experimenters try out new ideas and materials. Yeah, and to
sell motor oil and chew, too...
> "200 Meters and Down" is a great read and great ham history, but its
> time has pretty much passed. Sigh.
Take a vitamin and get plugging.
73, Ward N0AX
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