[CQ-Contest] Contesting Extinction

[Russell Hill]

There is a general loss of liberty for many groups.

I have an active interest in float plane flying, general aviation flying on 
wheels, rifle competition,  hunting generally, ham radio competition, and a 
few other things.

All of these activities are under stress due to the general perception that 
"It isn't MY activity, so I don't care if it gets curtailled--- it doesn't 
affect me."

So ham ops don't feel threatened when rifle ranges are forced to close, 
float plane pilots don't care if there are deed restrictions about antennas, 
hunters don't care when lakes are closed to float plane flying, home owners 
associations sue to have airports closed because of noise, and so forth.

Nobody seems to realize that a loss of anyone's freedom is everybody's loss.

Rusty, na5tr


----- Original Message ----- 
From: "w4ZW" <w4zw at comcast.net>
To: "'Joe Subich, W4TV'" <w4tv at subich.com>; <sawyered at earthlink.net>; 
<cq-contest at contesting.com>
Sent: Friday, October 06, 2006 11:00 AM
Subject: Re: [CQ-Contest] Contesting Extinction


> >I don't believe that the drop in VHF contesting has anything to do with
> age, deed >restrictions or anything of the sort.  Those are excuses that
> people like to use
>
> Gentlemen,
>
> You can dismiss the deed restriction epidemic as an excuse but I am here 
> to
> tell you that in Florida that is the single biggest barrier to new hams.
> Each year for several years I taught the physics classes for a day at my
> kids school (Maxwell/electromagnetic radiation) and concluded each class
> with a 15 minute demonstration of ham radio as the practical application
> (Yaesu FT-1000D with Cushcraft R-7 mounted outside the classroom and 
> usually
> a couple of Europeans standing by).  The kids were absolutely enthralled
> with the demonstration.
>
> I had a sign-up sheet for students interested in following up with license
> classes, etc.   The first year I had 36 students sign up.  After an
> orientation session, virtually every one of them came back to report that
> their parents told them they could not have an antenna.  Most said it was
> because there were homeowner restrictions and a few just because their
> parents didn't want an antenna in their yard or didn't want "to interfere
> with the neighbors TV."   Remember that these kids were seeing an rather
> innocent looking R-7 mounted on a 10' pipe driver into the ground, not a
> tower, yagi etc and I informed them they could use simple wire antennas 
> too.
>
>
> I then volunteered a complete station for a club station at the school and
> discovered the administration would not give up any space for this, AND I
> had to have a faculty member be responsible for the whole project.   After
> three years of this, I gave up and now just have the kids come over to my
> house.
>
> For most SSB contests as some of you know, I have a bunch of high school
> kids over and they have fun working guys around the world.  I have a large
> map that we mark with the stations we work, and they also have a good 
> social
> time of it since I'm oceanfront here and they spend time at the beach. 
> None
> the less, getting these kids licensed with the specter of not being able 
> to
> work HF because of antenna restrictions is the main impediment.
>
> It's just not the same as when we were kids.  These kids are technically
> proficient and point out they can talk with anyone in the world with their
> "IM", but for several they can feel the magic we all felt that first time 
> we
> experienced ham radio.
>
> I don't have a solution, but I think a focused lobbying campaign with the
> FCC to supersede these omnipresent deed restrictions is the first place to
> start.
>
> My 2 cents.
>
> Jon Hamlet,  W4ZW
>
> Casey Key Island, Florida
> "A little piece of paradise in the Gulf of Mexico"
>
>
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