It's Ham Vs.Ham As Radio Amateurs Are In Conflict At ARRL (perens.com) 183
Bruce Perens co-founded the Open Source Initiative with Eric Raymond -- and he's also Slashdot reader #3872. But this week he wrote in with some news from the world of amateur (or "ham") radio:
ARRL has been the USA's representative organization for Amateur Radio for over a century. More recently, the organization has replaced transparency and democratic representation of its membership with confidentiality, policies to stifle dissent, and punishment of their own leadership when they get out of line. A vote happening this month offers members a chance to get back in control.
The open letter at that link -- signed by several AARL life members (including Perens), argues that "The members are not currently represented as they should be, due to the continued application of a policy meant for a for-profit corporate board," adding that "The only whistle-blower on the board was publicly castigated for informing us."
"The currently-suspended rules that go against the member's interest are temporarily suspended, and could be restored."
The open letter at that link -- signed by several AARL life members (including Perens), argues that "The members are not currently represented as they should be, due to the continued application of a policy meant for a for-profit corporate board," adding that "The only whistle-blower on the board was publicly castigated for informing us."
"The currently-suspended rules that go against the member's interest are temporarily suspended, and could be restored."
Hams have always been fighting each other (Score:4, Insightful)
The community has been divided since the days the really old timers were fighting everyone else over the No Code license (MORSE not programming)
Then there were the volunteer examiner scandals. Oh wow an 8 year old girl has somehow managed to get an Extra Class license how did that happen.
Matter of fact the group in general seems to do this on a regular basis. My guess it's the people that can't get genuine technical accomplishments like QRP records or high numbers of CQ contacts, screwing with everyone else.
Re:Hams have always been fighting each other (Score:5, Funny)
I have this mental image of today’s hams belting each other with canes and oxygen tanks...
Re: Hams have always been fighting each other (Score:2, Informative)
Not far off most of the ones I have met are in their 70s and 80s.
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Hey, I'm in my 60s and don't need a cane or oxygen tank. Yet. But too many of the others I meet at "hamfests" are nearly as the image noted.
I was an ARRL member my first two years after getting my license about 8 years ago. I didn't much value in the paid membership. I never wanted to learn code and after setting up my first HF rig, I found I had no desire to chat over the air. I thought the new digital modes would be more interesting than they turned out to be. I found nothing worth talking about with thes
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You sound like me.. I got my license in 1976, and was a loyal ARRL member for about two years. I discovered all the benefits of membership were available elsewhere at little or no cost, and fast forward to today, I'd NEVER join that organization again, after seeing the kind of crap they pull on people who are members.. Just ain't happening...
Dave K7DGF
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Like all old organizations, the top folks get more interested in their own benefits, continuity, and titled positions.
Its worse than that. What you need to realize is that the radio spectrum allocated to amateur radio is a finite resource. Its currently threatened by corporate interests that would be interested in seizing those allocated frequencies to produce commercial products to be sold to consumers; wireless service X, sell marine band transmissions to marine users (who currently use marine radio frequencies for free), charge users to use DMR,.etc. .Furthermore, government agencies, whether its FEMA, DHS, or the mil
Re: Hams have always been fighting each other (Score:3, Funny)
...State emphatically that [antenna design 1] is superior to [antenna design 2].
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Nah, it looks like just another SJW takeover.
Merely knowing that Perens is involved is good enough reason for this ham to vote against them.
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Don’t forget snapping each other with their their rainbow suspenders.
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No, we use microwaves to cook pigeons in flight. Enjoy that melted plastic drone of yours.
100% of the hams I know are well under 65, most under 30. And they are plentiful.
No "get of my lawn" shit here. Learn how to have fun without your cellphone. Or use APRSDroid with your cellphone to amuse yourself and friends.
Or not.
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Not true... I'm a member of the Dutch radio amateur association, VERON. Most I see are around 55-65, not 70-80. There are quite a few 40-ish and at the main (national) level there is an active youth commission. Locally many departments help out with JOTA activities and we do see some new members coming from that source. I'm 42 myself, as software developer volunteering for the VERON ICT commission and a board member of the local departement (A35).
Of course, there is constant talk about how to recruit new m
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Not true... I'm a member of the Dutch radio amateur association, VERON. Most I see are around 55-65, not 70-80. There are quite a few 40-ish and at the main (national) level there is an active youth commission.
The basic demographics have changed. As in many other hobbies or avocations, people are waiting before licensing and activitiy.
The stereotype Olde farte Ham who got his license when he was ten years old is a vanishing breed.
The more modern version is a ham who waited until his or her children have been largely raised to become involved. This is also true of my other hobby of Amateur Astronomy. I was 46 when I was first licensed, and 47 when I earned my Extra.
And what does this mean? Just that the a
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The winner of a ham joust is the first one to knock his opponent's scooter-mounted IV bag off its pole.
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we have a group of "bicycle mobile"'s here, most of them were on the 2m repeater but we've moved mainly to DMR now.
decades ago a group of us kids had CB radios on our bicycles, it was good times :)
Re:Hams have always been fighting each other (Score:5, Insightful)
>the really old timers were fighting everyone else over the No Code license (MORSE not programming)
I remember this fight; it was absolutely absurd because the old timers were basically using morse code (which is a huge pain in the ass to learn) to gatekeep newer hams from getting their licenses. The truth is morse code was rarely used anymore and the code requirement was keeping a lot of otherwise very technically inclined people from bothering to join the hobby and get their licenses.
It's ironic because these days people complain that the hobby is dying because there's mostly only old timers left; the old timers basically dug their own grave because of their clique-ish nature over morse code requirements, especially during the golden age of ham radio in the 90s before the Internet made a lot of people lose interest in radio. I suspect there would be a LOT more middle aged hams in the hobby right now if it hadn't been for that bullshit, and they could be getting their kids into radio too.
A huge clusterfuck, it was. All because a bunch of old guys with an "I had to do it, so everyone should!" attitude.
Re:Hams have always been fighting each other (Score:5, Interesting)
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I don't know, I've been on the other side of that "let's let everyone with a belly button in" attitude before. It doesn't end well. You get a bunch of jerks who don't understand and who don't care what made the community great in the first place.
Exhibit A: The Internet.
It used to be the domain of people who understood a little about it and cared about its future. Then it was overrun by the Ooh Shiny crowd in the early 90's and it has been downhill ever since.
Sometimes some degree of gatekeeping is a good thing. Not so exclusive you have nobody left, but exclusive enough that you filter the worst of the riff-raff out.
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I don't know, I've been on the other side of that "let's let everyone with a belly button in" attitude before. It doesn't end well. You get a bunch of jerks who don't understand and who don't care what made the community great in the first place.
Exhibit A: The Internet.
It used to be the domain of people who understood a little about it and cared about its future. Then it was overrun by the Ooh Shiny crowd in the early 90's and it has been downhill ever since.
Sometimes some degree of gatekeeping is a good thing. Not so exclusive you have nobody left, but exclusive enough that you filter the worst of the riff-raff out.
There's actually another layer to the internet nobody has told you about because well we don't want you there.
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There's actually another layer to the internet nobody has told you about because well we don't want you there.
Not mentioning the Ultranet is rule #1 for membership, you should know that by now. The enforcers will be around to confiscate your Neurodeck within the next 24 hours. After that, feel free to enjoy Facebook, Instagram, and Youtube.
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And had about .00001% of the functionality of the current internet.
And while I see the elitists bitching about the "new guys", I have to see one say they'd be happy with a stone age internet they so desperately defend.
Re:Hams have always been fighting each other (Score:5, Informative)
Barriers to entry are a good thing.
Barriers to entry are good if they involve a relevant and useful skill.
For instance, handling emergency braking in a turn would be a useful skill to require of car drivers. Requiring them to calculate a square root is not, since that has nothing to do with driving.
Morse code is useless. How do I know? Because I know Morse code. Haven't used it in decades.
Re:Hams have always been fighting each other (Score:5, Insightful)
I used it last night to make a contact in Poland, known in ham language as a QSO. A week ago, it was Hawaii. Morse is plainly stupid, and it also plainly cuts through the RFI/EMI/Nutzo blabbing done in other modes.
And I'm a no-code Extra Class. Is there other fun in amateur radio? Yep.
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Barriers to entry are a good thing.
Barriers to entry are good if they involve a relevant and useful skill.
For instance, handling emergency braking in a turn would be a useful skill to require of car drivers. Requiring them to calculate a square root is not, since that has nothing to do with driving.
Morse code is useless. How do I know? Because I know Morse code. Haven't used it in decades.
I wouldn't call it completely useless, although I largely agree. It is slow, and is merely a psychomotor ability. For people like me, who are largely deaf, it isn't any fun, and while I an copy a clean signal FB, add noise to it, and my brain, which attempts to process noise at the same importance as intelligence carried in the tones, simply screws up.
It took me the better part of a year to learn Morse code. Which was painful for a guy who reads a manual or textbook once and commits it to memory.
Morse C
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For people like me, who are largely deaf, it isn't any fun
You can learn it visually. Just watch an LED blink. Your brain will soon learn the patterns, and you will be able to recognize entire words and phrases reflexively.
I learned Morse code visually, by watching the signal lamps used for ship-to-ship communication. There wasn't much else to do on a long deployment.
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For people like me, who are largely deaf, it isn't any fun
You can learn it visually. Just watch an LED blink. Your brain will soon learn the patterns, and you will be able to recognize entire words and phrases reflexively.
I learned Morse code visually, by watching the signal lamps used for ship-to-ship communication. There wasn't much else to do on a long deployment.
You're correct, because I can do it visually, just not at very high speed.
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I don't know, I've been on the other side of that "let's let everyone with a belly button in" attitude before. It doesn't end well. You get a bunch of jerks who don't understand and who don't care what made the community great in the first place. They just want to take, take, take and return nothing. Barriers to entry are a good thing. You don't want the Great Unwashed to spoil your good thing. That's how we ended up with Brexit.
It wasn't a free pass for know nothings to join. You still would have had to take the theory test, which if you take a look at is no walk in the park
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I don't know, I've been on the other side of that "let's let everyone with a belly button in" attitude before. It doesn't end well. You get a bunch of jerks who don't understand and who don't care what made the community great in the first place. They just want to take, take, take and return nothing. Barriers to entry are a good thing. You don't want the Great Unwashed to spoil your good thing. That's how we ended up with Brexit.
It wasn't a free pass for know nothings to join. You still would have had to take the theory test, which if you take a look at is no walk in the park
A lot of Hams look at today's tests and think "Any old asshole could pass that test.
And guess what? I've done the research after listening to the olde fartes bitch and moan about giving licenses away in cereal boxes.
The results? Aside from removing vacuum tube questions, the level of the tests is just similar.
Why the bitching and moaning? The incredibly brilliant olde tymers who suffered the incredibly difficult test regimen under the steely eyed FCC examiner simply didn't know as much at the time.
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I don't know, I've been on the other side of that "let's let everyone with a belly button in" attitude before. It doesn't end well. You get a bunch of jerks who don't understand and who don't care what made the community great in the first place. They just want to take, take, take and return nothing. Barriers to entry are a good thing. You don't want the Great Unwashed to spoil your good thing. That's how we ended up with Brexit.
Have you read of some of the great on-air brawls of the past? All performed by old school higher speed Morse Code testing and the supposed harder testing in days of yore. People who would be considered elites by the self professed "better hams" of today.
Testing is good. Testing can keep the noob from electrocuting themselves. And in a technical hobby, should simply be expected. But let's not pretend that it is some sort of barrier to assholes.
Side note: One of my favorite little tricks is when some of
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True, but the government would have taken our spectrum by now if not for the ARRL.
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Lol, point proven.
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The truth is morse code was rarely used anymore.
I haven't looked at the data for 2017, but in the 2016 CQ Worldwide CW contest -- a Morse-only contest held at the end of November annually -- about 2.4 million distinct contacts were made over the course of two days. That doesn't seem to be compatible with the quoted assertion. I also note that that number is roughly 400,000 higher than the number of contacts made over the equivalent weekend dedicated to voice operation.
Re: Hams have always been fighting each other (Score:2)
Morse code proficiency was until 2003 an international treaty requirement for issue of amateur radio licenses to operate below 30 MHz. I passed 5 WPM at age 15, but family moves first made the written exam difficult to access, then located us to an area where property covenants prohibited outdoor antennas, and topography defeated reception anyway. I never obtained a license.
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It's ironic because these days people complain that the hobby is dying because there's mostly only old timers left; the old timers basically dug their own grave because of their clique-ish nature over morse code requirements, especially during the golden age of ham radio in the 90s before the Internet made a lot of people lose interest in radio. I suspect there would be a LOT more middle aged hams in the hobby right now if it hadn't been for that bullshit, and they could be getting their kids into radio too.
I disagree with that. There are a lot of middle aged and up people in ham radio...yes, but there are a lot of people in their 20s, 30s, and 40s in it too. It's growing among kids as well, though not as fast. A lot of them are using digital voice modes such as DMR or DStar and digital HF modes such as FT8. Satellite communications are popular among kids and people in those age groups as well as portable operating.
In the past decade, ham radio numbers in the US have actually grown 8.1% and the number of ham r [arrl.org]
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Meh, I taught my self Morse on the edge of that era with the aid of some free DOS-based software from a BBS. It really wasn't much more of an effort than learning to touch type, which I assume most of the people reading this at least have a feel for what it takes to learn that. It took some practice but any schmoe could do it if they put the effort in. If you are someone who learned to type Dvorak your mind could easily handle learning Morse.
The great practical advantage of Morse in my mind is that it will
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Meh, I taught my self Morse on the edge of that era with the aid of some free DOS-based software from a BBS. It really wasn't much more of an effort than learning to touch type,
I'll bet I can put you to shame in my technical ability. But I won't because if you are a Ham, you passed the tests.
But I suck at Morse code, probably a combination of deafness, tinmnitus and the result that my brain processes all sounds the same.
So if you passed Morse code easily, you aren't intelligent enought to know it is just a skill that was easy for you.
If you are someone who learned to type Dvorak your mind could easily handle learning Morse.
The great practical advantage of Morse in my mind is that it will get a message through on a poor signal where voice is impossible, and doesn't require any additional modulation equipment beyond what you have on your shoulders to make it work. So I didn't feel the least bit put out that they removed the Morse test soon after I'd put in the work to learn it. I never really understood what the fuss was about really.
Because people like me, who can commit a textbook or manual to memory after reading it one time, were not eligible because I didn't have the ps
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It's ironic because these days people complain that the hobby is dying because there's mostly only old timers left; the old timers basically dug their own grave because of their clique-ish nature over morse code requirements,
Cool story dude!
I like to open up several slices on my radio and show just how Ham Radio is "dying".
Sometimes I wonder if these people understand propagation or just have shitty antennas. Mine are good, not the best, but good.
Because what my slices show is a lot of activity - even CW, which I don't use much because of virtual deafness.
Now that being said, your post sounds like a fine example of grouchy old man syndrome. You'd be a hit in certain circles that haunt 80 meters
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Re:Hams have always been fighting each other (Score:5, Insightful)
Pointless squabbles like use of Morse code as a hazing culture have obscured the fact that amateur radio still can play a vital role in disaster management. For the most part, it does not rely on infrastructure. It should be recast as an official adjunct to FEMA and its counterparts in each country to be a fallback means of communication when all else has been destroyed. The service needs a more unified approach to digital communications (lots of experimenting going on right now, but let’s focus the ingenuity) and more focus on maintainable power systems for large rigs during extended loss of grid power.
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I say pointless because Morse is the very earliest, not-very-good form of binary communications. Today we have gone far beyond it in binary tech. Let’s concentrate on systems that can get TCP/IP through under the most marghinal of conditions, and on organizing for disaster preparedness: area map, stored supplies and parts, secure locations for ham gear, coordination with local emergency services.
I’m not a ham, but I live in a mountainous, heavily touristed area where search-and-rescue on our hun
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CW and sideband voice are the lowest common denominator for communications. That's why everyone still uses it. There's definitely a "you first" attitude when it comes to doing anything new. Even the JT modes, which are far superior to CW for weak signal, are resisted. Codec 2 and FreeDV are actually better than SSB but because no one is willing to spend an hour figuring it out it languishes.
http://qso.freedv.org/ [freedv.org]
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CW and sideband voice are the lowest common denominator for communications. That's why everyone still uses it. There's definitely a "you first" attitude when it comes to doing anything new. Even the JT modes, which are far superior to CW for weak signal, are resisted. Codec 2 and FreeDV are actually better than SSB but because no one is willing to spend an hour figuring it out it languishes.
http://qso.freedv.org/ [freedv.org]
Better is so subjective. I've tried FreeDV, and I find it's best attribure is a dead quiet background. The voice quality? Not so much. It does what it does certainly, but pushes the bandwidth so hard that some of us have issues hearing it. But that dead silent digital background comes at a price.
The digital cliff effect. You can hear a weak, scratchy, yet intelligible SSB signal much longer than a digital voice signal is giving you dead quiet silence.
I like JT because of it's ability to work below the
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I say pointless because Morse is the very earliest, not-very-good form of binary communications. Today we have gone far beyond it in binary tech. Let's concentrate on systems that can get TCP/IP through under the most marghinal of conditions, and on organizing for disaster preparedness: area map, stored supplies and parts, secure locations for ham gear, coordination with local emergency services.
The CW crowd is presently up in arms about the digital modes like FT8. We hear from them about how these modes are killing Ham radio.
I suspect they are more upset about losing the claim that they are the best mode for getting through with very weak signals, and the new digital modes regularly work signals below the noise floor.
A method of getting through the noise floor is killing Ham Radio? How rational!
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The whole rationale for the amateur service is to promote the pushing of technology. If anything will kill ham radio, it's 'medallion cabdrivers'.
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The whole rationale for the amateur service is to promote the pushing of technology. If anything will kill ham radio, it's 'medallion cabdrivers'.
Exactly. I certainly don't have anything against a retro-inclined Ham building a latter day tube Ameco and spending his/her time with like minded individuals using OOK Morse. Or the 80 meter AM crowd patting themselves on the back as "The real Hams:"
But for those groups to promote themselves as the elusive real Hams is just silliness.
I recall giving a talk about Software Defined Radio at a club meeting one night. While most listened with rapt attention, there was a group who chatted among themselves, and
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Animal husbandry is not considered a "geek" concentration. Go hang out with the backyard gardeners.
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It's dying today because the hobby is pointless
Find me a hobby that isn't to an outsider. If you think it is just about talking to people around the world for free you completely miss the point of amateur radio. In the UK we're taught that the license is issued for the purposes of self teaching and experimentation in radio communications, not as effectively another CB radio service which seems to be how you've used it. And it is still today continuing to make advancements in radio communications. At noise floor or below noise floor digital communication
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It's dying today because the hobby is pointless
Find me a hobby that isn't to an outsider.
Oh yeah. Ham radio is "dying", and will be dying for the next hundred years or so.
I've heard that sort of claptrap mostly from three groups:
Old Hams who won't keep up with technology
Hams who listen on the wrong bands at the wrong time, like 80 meters in mid-afternoon, or 20 meters after midnight.
Hams who have remarkably shitty setups.
The first, because so many of their friends are kicking off, the second because "they ain't doing it right".
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More likely they were trying to have at least a minimal barrier to entry to avoid being crapflooded into CB land.
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Join a younger club if you want, although there's a lot of dozy people at any age. I was licensed at 12. EVERYONE was older. Now, most are younger. Still have had a ball.
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It's always been a mess. I was licensed at age 15 and at age 40 I'm still one of the younger hams at clubs, swaps, etc.. Even back in the early 90's Amateur Radio was the domain of old guys who complained that no-coders weren't real hams.
You're hanging with the wrong people AC.
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That very same Bruce Perens has been involved in the no-code movement, which has largely resurrected amateur radio, possibly to the dismay of said "old timers".
See the last paragraph of https://perens.com/about-bruce... [perens.com]
His force on open-source efforts have been similarly successfully disruptive.
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I got my novice ticket when I was barely 6 years old. My dad was a Ham and we had a blast playing with electronics together. I can see where a kid could pass the exam with flying colors if they were committed to the hobby instead of TV and video games.
Absolutely. Novice was exactly that, a license meant to get people willing to put in effort and learn into the hobby. No offense meant but the advanced and extra licenses were considerably harder.
vote (Score:1)
I just voted for someone for director of my division who is very much FOR the removal of the confidentiality policy. This has been a silly move at the ARRL, and hopefully one that can be turned around swiftly.
CoC (Score:1)
Let me guess: Code of Conduct issues. In 2018 everyone wants to control how everyone else behaves.
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Nope, not at all.
It has to do more with being closed, rather than being open. Not unlike closed-source/open-source with analogous reasons and reasoning.
The CoC issues really don't revolve around control of behavior; it has to do with respect. Minimal respect. Nothing more. There are some who completely eschew rules. We call them: uncivil. This is about minimum standards of civility, both the captioned issue, and CoC.
this isn't really censorship (Score:2)
I'll admit I had a similar kneejerk response to this, "closed is bad". But there's another important facet to the problem that makes this angle seriously worth looking at. When any organization gets big it requires a "ruling body" of some sort. It could be a government, a committee, a board, whatever. Those people either each represent groups of their members, or are all supposed to represent all of their members in their own way. Regardless of how it works, differing opinions are always a good thing,
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I sit on boards. Have been on large ones (people, money, scope) and small ones. There are certainly some matters that require confidentiality. And mostly, there are not.
Requires confidentiality: certain financial matters and legal obligations (including personnel issues, litigation, and other conversations that require legal protection as liability counterweights the need for openness).
Most of the rest should be open, even painfully so. The best governance I've participated in were of the painfully open var
Nerd wars (Score:2)
It's the same issue everywhere in the world... (Score:5, Insightful)
...I've lived in 3 countries in Europe, they all fight over the same thing.
Old timers remember they heydays and how "hard" it was to take the license, it was earned, not given etc...
They tend to forget that there's a "maker" community today, that does at least as much technical stuff if not more than they ever did, and it's very hard to make the two meet. Old times despise the social media chat, because they see it too easy to just connect to the internet, and presto - you instantly chat with people all over the world.
To them - being a radio amateur means working hard to get some old school electronics theory, plus the mastery of morse code (which is actually pretty hard, it's easy to read on a piece of paper, but VERY hard to train the ear to listen to at 120 characters per minute), it was for me... I'm an "old timer" radio amateur myself, and I hardly use the radio anymore, I'm on the net like the rest of you - but I like to dabble in electronics, building robotics etc, and I feel it's sad that my fellow old timers have such a hard time adapting to the new times, especially when you can easily consider they where the pioneers of your "taken for granted" communications technology we enjoy today in such small formats.
I remember experimenting with my own BBS (Bulletin board system) which I set up with the help of a few transistors and a commodore 64 back in the early 80's when internet was relatively unknown. Then my fellow enthusiasts could leave messages to me or each other when I was at school. We even digitized images from scanning or video cameras, to send binaries or slow scan via the airwaves, that was our "instagram" back then.
But we did it - way before anyone else did. And fun times it was. But old timers (particularly way older than me) they just don't see it, and they don't "need" to see it, they will take their memories with them to the grave, good times were theirs, and they lived them to the fullest.
A pity really - because they have so much to give, so much to share, and yet - still - so much to learn.
Re: It's the same issue everywhere in the world... (Score:3)
The important barrier that needs to be maintained is the rules and regs part of the testing. If a HAM license doesn't enforce some education about operating the gear, nobody would follow the common sense rules, and 'the commons' would quickly be destroyed.
Operators need to know and understand the equipment, how to control radiated power, prevent a distorted signal, etc. It isn't a hobby where you just buy a rig and turn it on, or at least not one where you are restricted to that.
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Operators need to know and understand the equipment, how to control radiated power, prevent a distorted signal,
That sounds hard. Why can't the software handle all of that?
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Because radio is a shared resource, and at some point someone has to be responsible for the signals they send, or it all turns to shit. Is the software developer going to be responsible when the bugs cause some transmitter to jam a frequency when the operator thinks the radio is off? Or worse yet, transmit on a frequency allocated for someone else like broadcast radio or emergency services? Ultimately it has to come down to the operator of the equipment, so they're the ones who have to be licensed.
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Software CAN INDEED handle that. You need to know it's working the software (defined radio) that you use, because the airwaves allocated to amateur radio are shared assets. One bozo screws up big wads of spectrum.
It has to be done cleanly, lest TV, AM/FM radio, even your smartphone, gets screwed. It's done with great care because we as radio operators have a responsibility to each other.
I use SDRs. They're fabulous. Want to learn about great applications for FPGAs and a Raspberry Pi3? Check it out. Not hard
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That sounds hard. Why can't the software handle all of that?
Amateur Radio is a hobby, not a use-case.
If it's too 'hard' just pick up your cellphone and stay out of the amateur bands.
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With Ham Radio, the software often is manipulable by the Ham operators. That's part of the point of Ham radio.
ARRL (Score:5, Interesting)
Re:ARRL (Score:5, Insightful)
Same here - Extra and have been licensed for over 35 years, and I have always seen the ARRL as just like every other dominant hobby organization -- corrupted by money, self-preservation, and leaders who enjoy political role-playing. But then I'm just a lowly experimenter who rarely transmits and not a whacker https://rationalwiki.org/wiki/Whacker/ [rationalwiki.org], so I'm probably in the minority.
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The problem with this attitude is that your vote then does not count. I saw the call from Bruce Perens and the first thought in my mind was I had better re-join the league so I could vote to make a difference.
Things are never changed by those that decide to stay at home,
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I'm a member - because I like the magazine - when I had time for HF the QSL bureau was quite useful - plus if your into contesting you really do need access to the logbook of the world (which I guess you don't really need to be a member for).
The ARRL does successfully lobby for our rights as well - if you live in Oregon for example the NW Division successfully exempted amateur radio use from recent mobile device distracted driving laws: https://www.oregon.gov/ODOT/Sa... [oregon.gov] (section 4 - on early drafts and even
I REALLY hate to say this, but.... (Score:5, Insightful)
These guys are arguing over the placement of the deck chairs on the Titanic. --KZ7B AE
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These guys are arguing over the placement of the deck chairs on the Titanic.
The deck chairs should face forward, so approaching icebergs get noticed.
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If your'e a ham you set them up in the radio room, to send and receive warnings about ice and distress signals.
It's illegal to do anything worthwhile (Score:2, Insightful)
If I wanted to do health checks on old farts I would go to an old folks home. Repeaters are all dead because nobody wants to offend anyone and lose their license. Pirate radio is truly where its at.
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If I wanted to do health checks on old farts I would go to an old folks home. Repeaters are all dead because nobody wants to offend anyone and lose their license. Pirate radio is truly where its at.
Writes the sissy AC.
Secret message for slashdot (Score:2)
I am sad. We can't put Unicode emoticons on Slashdot, and they won't let us post Morse code.
dotdashdot dot dashdash dot dashdash dashdotdotdot dot dotdashdot
dash dashdashdash
dashdotdot dotdashdot dot dashdot dashdotdash
dashdotdashdash dashdashdash dotdotdash dotdashdot
dashdashdash dotdotdotdash dotdash dotdashdotdot dash dotdot dashdot dot
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dashdotdot dotdashdot dot dashdot dashdotdash
Bzzzt. I hope that the company that makes it can spell better than that.
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dashdotdot dotdashdot dot dashdot dashdotdash
Bzzzt. I hope that the company that makes it can spell better than that.
Ahhhhhh, my bad. But I want to blame slashdot for not having a more universal spell-checker.
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dot
ditdit
FTFY
Underlying issue? (Score:2)
HAM is important (Score:4, Insightful)
I am a HAM and I do a lot of volunteer work with my license. In large events, like the Boston Marathon, cell phones bandwidth gets limited and making calls can be difficult. Like the time of the bombing, they turned off cell phones. I have volunteered at the Boston Marathon a few times and the HAMs play a major role in coordination of medical attention for runners, getting supplies to various stops, and observing runners looking for ones that may be in trouble.
When people say amateur radio is dead or dying, it really isn't. Its kind of growing. You can get a great rig for about $200 these days (Beofung), and you can make a very good antenna for 2M and 70cm out of some wire and PVC pipe. A lot of the preppers and survivalists are also becoming HAMs.
There is a test, you need to pass it, but its about half technical and half rules and crap. You don't need to be a genius, but you will need to study a bit.
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Wikipedia states:
Ham radio Edit
Main article: Etymology of ham radio
The term "ham" was first a pejorative term used in professional wired telegraphy during the 19th century, to mock operators with poor Morse code sending skills ("ham-fisted").[10][11][12][13] This term continued to be used after the invention of radio and the proliferation of amateur experimentation with wireless telegraphy; among land- and sea-based professional radio operators, "ham" amateurs were considered a nuisance. The use of "ham"
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Can you explain to me why people use capital letters for "ham"? Is it an acronym? If so, for what? And if LASER became laser over the decades, why didn't ham?
It's a name. Like Amateur, or Bob, or Anonymous Coward.
That wasn't so hard, was it?
Hiram Percy Maxim (Score:3)
What do you expect, from an organization started by the inventor of the Maxim Silencer, and whose dad invented the Maxim Machine Gun?
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/... [wikipedia.org]
Gotta say, though, "cool do', bro!". Very Tesla-ish!
I "retired" from ham radio many years ago, but got my Novice license in junior high in the late 60's, and then got the General and Advanced while in high school.
As I recall, the ARRL didn't have much of a different reputation back in the 70's. They've always presumed to speak for the majority of American hams, even though the majority of American hams have never been members.
I think the apple does not fall far from the tree.
spread spectrum (Score:2)
I just want to see the FCC adopt more flexible rules governing spread spectrum, esp. with regard to HF and low-bitrate QRP digital modes.
I think it was Bruce who argued a few years ago that EIRP per hz per time-interval (within a larger umbrella applying to instantaneous power & bandwidth) matters more than the name and legal definition of any particular mode.
If anything, the test for Amateur Extra should include things relevant to advanced digital modes, like OFDM, CDMA, FFT calculation, SDR, matrix ma
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Here in Australia there are suggestions that the basic level, Foundation, should be allowed to use Digital Modes like WSJT on very low power. I'd agree with that as otherwise you are shut out from it.
The ARRL (Score:2)
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Don't be slamming the HAMs.
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From the Land of Sky Blue Waters!
You must be a fellow midwesterner.
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Actually it was Hamms beer that was from the LOSBW, IIRC.
Just sayin'...
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Correct. We were talking about Hamms.
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I know, I had a brain fart. I realized my mistake as I hit "submit"...
Sorry. Carry On.
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It's OK, brother. We make allowances for the older Slashdotters, because they tend to bring greater wisdom.
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Never, ever capitalize ham. It is not an acronym.
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American radio relay league.
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Re: Baofeng (Score:2)
And how, exactly, would compromising a 2m/70cm radio with a range of a few miles likely to be of any use to the Chinese government? It transmits FM audio. ANYONE with an antenna & receiver nearby can receive it, by intent of the radio's owner.
And even IF it could somehow be hijacked by Chinese agents... the last time I checked, China's government has no legal jurisdiction over me (an American citizen in America), and I'm not going to flatter myself into thinking that anything I might do is of the SLIGHT
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Assuming you are right, what could they realistically hack? To what end? You can get a good few miles over flat terrain, but you need a good repeater to get any real distance.