[TowerTalk] QST Cover

[Wilson Lamb]

OK, I’ll be very brief, since we are already in the woods.
I have ZERO patience for League bashing.  What have YOU done for the League?
I appreciate that they have saved our spectrum space and maintain a presence in Washington.
The dues are laughably low...less than a week’s wine, beer and peanut budget for me.
I am astounded that Steve, Ward, and the tech staff keep managing to crank out great (mostly) pubs in the face of the monumental indifference of 95% of the members.
In two clubs, I am the one of two or fewer than five people involved in scratch building, and I’ve backed off a lot.
Yes, a handfull  build easy kits.  I don’t know of anything from scratch.
MOST make no pretense of technical interest, knowledge, or ability.  They think pushing a mic button is getting on the air!
Many can’t put on a coax connector or mic plug and are not shy about asking someone else to do it for them.
We all know we have done this to ourselves, to get our numbers up.  Good thing too, numbers are power!
We DO have several, not nearly enough, who are skilled at repeater assembly and setup.
They also did yeoman work in the days of repurposed commercial radios for repeaters.
But now we have so many repeaters their usage is sparse and there’s often no one on and when work parties are called it’s always the same few showing up.
Sure, the picture is a little hokey, but she’s light years ahead of what most of have done for many years!
And I was thrilled to see the belayed harness.  I happen to think that’s the ultimate safety technique, GIVEN A COMPETENT GROUNDIE.
I’m not great at knots.  Is there anything a bowline can’t do?  I’ll look up the grapevine.   It doesn’t look relevant to the harness issue?
If the belay is kept snug, she CAN’T fall and doesn’t have to worry about fetching up on a lanyard and slamming into the tower!
Perhaps they should have a competition to see who can point out the most “errors” and then publish a picture with corrections explained?
OK, not as brief as I’d hoped.
Pointing out the flaws in the picture is a fine Towertalk topic, from which many can profit.
League bashing is a no risk release of hot air that serves little purpose.
Wilson
W4BOH