On Wed, 28 Apr 2004 07:10:08 -0700, Marlon Schafer (509-982-2181)
wrote:
>Guys, what's part of the magic of being a ham? Cheap real time
>communication with others all over the world right?
That's only a small part of it -- in fact, that part of it is usually
far better on the internet. Much more important are things like
studying the performance of antennas, designing and building better
ones, studying long range propagation, studying and designing new and
better equipment designs, testing and using them under real world
conditions, etc.
Some other key issues:
1) ham radio has historically been a (the?) major entry path for youth
into technical careers. If that spectrum is unuseable, that limits the
attraction.
2) hams historically have provided emergency communications during all
sorts of disasters, both natural and otherwise. If the spectrum is
unusable, not only do you not have the hams, you couldn't use the
spectrum if you did.
3) Ham radio is only one of the services that depends on the HF
spectrum that BPL wipes out. Others include international broadcasting,
communications with ships at sea, and many business users. One of the
characteristics of the HF spectrum is that it isn't local -- it travels
around the world. So the trash that hundreds of thousands of BPL
transmitters produce in Chicago (or Washington) can pollute the
airwaves in locations as widespread as rural Iowa, Ontario, Europe,
South America, and Africa.
Ah, you say, international broadcasting is replaced by the internet.
Yes, IF you have the money to be on the internet, and IF the internet
is viable where you live. But it isn't viable everywhere. More
important, the BPL technology required to reach geographically isolated
rural subscribers involves far higher power levels that produce far
greater levels of interference to radio services, and at far greater
distances.
Jim Brown BSEE
Chicago
_______________________________________________
See: http://www.mscomputer.com for "Self Supporting Towers", "Wireless Weather
Stations", and lot's more. Call Toll Free, 1-800-333-9041 with any questions
and ask for Sherman, W2FLA.
_______________________________________________
TowerTalk mailing list
TowerTalk@contesting.com
http://lists.contesting.com/mailman/listinfo/towertalk
|