Many of us more mature types will recall that back in the Happy Days of the
post war years, there was almost nothing in the way of public radio systems
and those that were in use were crude, inefficient, hard to maintain and
limited in effectiveness. Police units had huge radios in the trunks and
large whips on the trunk, but you had to drive up to a hill to call back to
the station. I'm not sure the fire department had radios in my small
town. The local radio station did remote broadcasts by leased telephone
line from various points that had to be pre-wired in advance by the
engineer at the radio station, and dial telephones didn't arrive until the
late 50's or so.
In these circumstances, every time there was a severe weather event, here
it would be floods or hurricanes, elsewhere it might be fires or
earthquakes, or blizzards, having radio communication was very important
and hams were the only game in town. Even into the 60's, when a hurricane
blew through south Texas, the first things that failed were the public
service radios, power and antennas, and nobody knew how to get them back up
and on the air usually. A weather bureau employee named Art Ross, W5KR,
later SCM, in Brownsville, was the only way to get information in or out of
Brownsville in the September 1967 hurricane. I was operating from the
Department of Public Safety HQ in Austin where, every evening, then
Governor John Connally came and sat beside me listening to what the
amateurs were accomplishing. Art Ross received a commendation from LBJ for
his efforts in that event. It surely wasn't perfect but it was all there
was.
Nearly 50 years later, things have changed with government agencies awash
in money to buy and improve communications systems hardened against almost
any eventuality. Every public servant in the field, even the meter
readers, has a h/t linked back through the sophisticated secure repeater
network, as well as cell phones.
73 de W6OGC Jim Allen
On Thu, May 22, 2014 at 8:33 AM, R. Eric Sluder - W9WLW via TenTec <
tentec@contesting.com> wrote:
> Paul,
>
> In what I've read I believe you are spot on. I think the ARRL started
> promoting us as volunteer communicators after WWII when the Navy wasn't
> willing to relinquish control of our HF spectrum and let Hams get back on
> the air. I believe there was a lot of politicking if I am remembering
> correctly.
>
> Eric
> W9WLW
>
> On May 22, 2014 9:09:59 AM EDT, Paul Gentry <phgentry@gmail.com> wrote:
> |I disagree with the history you present below. It was not as I have
> |read
> |"...for fun, it was not as a hobby, and it was not intended to create a
> |group of technology experimenters that it became later." It was
> |experimentation and research at the beginning. The technology
> |experimenters is what it started with, became, and still is. It was
> |arguably for fun (enjoyment) because people passionate do what they
> |love
> |for fun, enjoy it, and can do nothing else. Sometimes it turns into a
> |job. Benefit was seen to allow experimenters who had a passion for the
> |physics of radio to learn by doing along with some regulation- the
> |license. No one at the turn of the 20th century envisioned an army of
> |radio operators ready to serve the country. Amateur Radio Emergency
> |Service is arguably what you point out but it came much later...
> |
> |Just my take and obviously has little to do with TT radios.
> |
> |Paul K4BWG
> |
> |On Thu, May 22, 2014 at 2:28 AM, geoffrey mendelson <
> |geoffreymendelson@gmail.com> wrote:
> |
> |> On 5/22/2014 7:28 AM, TTMaven wrote:
> |>
> |>> Your comments fit with my take... after attending the Homeland
> |Security
> |>> Forum at Dayton last week. The government workers are getting ham
> |>> licenses. They think that gives them training as radio operators.
> |It
> |>> appears they will be in charge, and we must work for them. Not that
> |is all
> |>> bad, but we will not be in charge. The image of the ham operator
> |showing up
> |>> to save the day is long gone already. Hams "might" be used as
> |auxiliary
> |>> operators, when there are not enough trained government guys, and
> |hams will
> |>> be working for the govt boys - not the other way around.
> |>>
> |>
> |> The original idea behind ham radio was to create a pool of trained
> |radio
> |> operators in case of rapid need, e.g. war. It was not for fun, it was
> |not
> |> as a hobby, and it was not intended to create a group of technology
> |> experimenters that it became later.
> |>
> |> That is why called the Amateur Radio Service.
> |>
> |> In other countries it is a sport (e.g. the Soviet Union), or an
> |almost
> |> ignored hobby, e.g. Israel. My SWAG is that here in Israel, there are
> | as
> |> many people with old Motorola and new Baofeng radios illegally using
> |them
> |> on PMR446 (the EU equivalent to FRS), and the "American"
> |> frequencies (FRS and GMRS) as active hams on UHF and almost as many
> |as on
> |> VHF. :-(
> |>
> |> Geoff.
> |>
> |> --
> |> Geoffrey S. Mendelson 4X1GM/N3OWJ
> |> Jerusalem Israel.
> |>
> |>
> |> _______________________________________________
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> |>
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> --
> Sent from my Android device with K-9 Mail. Please excuse my brevity.
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