[CQ-Contest] Somewhere in the Future

[Ward Silver]

>> Said alternately, is ham radio about *us* or is it about ham radio? 
>> Perhaps
>> Part 97.1 can offer guidance in this regard.
>
> It's about *us*.
>
> Part 97.1 should reflect what We The People want and need and not what the 
> gummint wishes to impose on us. A couple of wars have been fought over 
> this > principle. So far, the good guys have always won.
>
> 73, Bill W6WRT

You miss my point entirely and contradict yourself in the process.

The gummint imposes nothing except frequency limits. See Part 97.1 - here 
are the reasons we make spectrum available, now go figure out the best way 
to make use of the spectrum.  This has worked reasonably well since 1934. 
We accepted those restrictions on signing our license application.

In the previous email, however, you want the directors to impose your values 
on ham radio.  Which is it now - We The People or My Way Or the Highway? 
We The People is not You The Person. What if "We The People" don't *want* to 
operate the way you think best?  What is going to change their minds?

If we want our values to be carried forward into the next generation, then 
*we* have some selling to do.  Not the League and not the FCC.  People do 
not take up hobbies because they want to be part of a membership 
organization or to enjoy complying with regulations. They see *us* doing 
something interesting and useful and decide they want to do it, too.  It 
will not work to insist that they do it and belittle them for their own 
misguided points of view.  The ARRL (and any national society) can help us 
sell, but we have to do it.

In my opinion, reaching out beyond our own radio rooms - both within the 
hobby and to non-hams - is THE biggest challenge facing ham radio.  For a 
bunch of communicators, we are often rotten communicators. If ham radio is 
truly about us and all we do is sit around grouching, then we might as well 
start packing up and turning out the lights.  On the other hand, each of us 
bringing in just one new ham every so often, Elmering them, and selling the 
magic of radio to them, will insure the future of ham radio and the special 
place that it occupies for each of us.

Good luck in the CQ 160 this weekend - may Flayer, God of the Ionosphere and 
his minions grace us with a cornucopia of ducts, skew paths, and low 
absorption that we might fill our logs with unimaginable exotica.  Or at 
least a couple of good hours with a clear frequency.

73, Ward N0AX