[TenTec] RF Speech Processor "TX IMD"

[Charles P. Steinmetz]

Rick wrote:

>What you have just defined would mean the end of ham radio.

If so, then so be it -- but I'm confident that wouldn't 
happen.  Hopefully, it *would* weed out most of the people who can't 
be bothered to verify that their transmitters are operating properly.

>Now very few people have a scope and even fewer would know how to use it.

I have no sympathy whatever for any ham who invests thousands of 
dollars in a rig (or three) but can't justify spending a few hundred 
on a scope and other basic monitoring tools -- and even less for any 
ham who can't be bothered to learn how to use such 
equipment.  Honestly, neither one should qualify for a 
license.  Owning a speedometer and knowing how to use it are legal 
requirements for operating a motor vehicle.  Why shouldn't owning 
proper monitoring equipment and knowing how to use it be legal 
requirements for operating a ham transmitter?

>YET WE CONTINUE TO LET THE MANUFACTURERS GET AWAY WITH THIS!

Since we agree that the vast majority of hams don't know and wouldn't 
be able to tell whether their rigs work properly, just exactly where 
is the pressure on manufacturers to change supposed to come 
from???  The only way to achieve the goal you seek is to get rid of 
all of the clueless hams (which is way more than half of them).

I don't understand why people who DO know what they are doing are so 
protective of the "right" of people who DON'T know what they are 
doing to participate in the hobby.  They (the people who DO know) 
would actually be so much better off without all the lids.  Cut 'em 
loose!!  Surely, ham radio would be very different than in is now -- 
but it would not die, and I'd take that world in a heartbeat over the 
miserable swamp we have now.

>Instead they should be seeing hundreds of emails from unsatisfied customers.

Again, since the vast majority of hams don't know and wouldn't be 
able to tell whether their rigs work properly, what basis do they 
have to complain???  One might imagine that those who DO know would 
be able to persuade those who DON'T to join the chorus -- but even if 
that were possible (it's not), as soon as the "DON'Ts" realized the 
cost of a radio might go up by $10, you'd lose them.  At the end of 
the day, all you have is people who know what they're doing 
complaining about radios they don't own (precisely because they know 
what they're doing) -- and that isn't going to get us anywhere.

The only possible remedy that does not require de-licensing most hams 
would be to press for VERY strict technical standards and to require 
type-approval of all commercial ham gear.  And I'm not hopeful even 
that would work, assuming you were able to make it happen.

>Blaming it on the LIDS and leaving it at that, is not helping to 
>solve the problem.

Well, as I said before, anyone who operates a transmitter but can't 
be bothered to verify that it operates correctly IS a lid, in my 
opinion.  And at the end of the day, the person who pushes the Tx 
button is solely responsible for his or her transmission.  So, while 
I will not dispute that equipment manufacturers are not helping, the 
buck stops with the lids who buy crappy rigs and then use them.  And 
the only way to eliminate their bad choices is to eliminate them from 
the hobby.  So I guess I'm not blaming it on lids and leaving it at 
that -- I'm blaming it on lids and telling them to get with the 
program or get off the air.

Best regards,

Charles