Hi.

Why are you belly-aching about amateur radio dying?  You obviously want to
kill it with such an obnoxious attitude.

I did not start from the CB band, but as an SWL, but I know plenty of
people who did, and a lot of them have made a fine contribution to the
amateur radio service.  But it is this elitist "I'm better than you because
I never touched a CB" or "I'm better than you because I work nothing but
CW" that is at the heart of what is wrong with the service.  Even the
jokers on 75 meters are primarily the way they are because they think they
are better than everyone else.

For crying out loud, cut it out!  If sitting around and crabbing about how
much better it was in the past is the best we can do with our air time and
our e-mail time, then maybe it is time to give it up.

Are there some bad operators?  Of course.  There has always been bad
apples.  But, for most people, if they are engaged constructively, theywill
strive to learn and improve.  Most of the people that I know who are "no
coders" end up studying for higher classes of license and branching out
into other facets of ham radio.  But, even if they don't and they sit
around on 2 meters and chat with the same old friends day in and day out,
who are they hurting?

Come on, people.  Lighten up a little.  If I were a newcomer and I had to
listen to this crap, I'd put the radio on e-bay and go back to chat rooms,
or web surfing  or whatever.

I think ham radio still has a lot going for it.  Maybe we would do a lot
more to preserve it, if we could be a little more positive about it, and
embrace new people rather than running them down.  Remember, many of the
people that are in amateur radio left CB because they didn't like the
free-for-all down there either.

73, de Lou K2LKK




At 03:59 AM 7/21/2005 -0400, you wrote:
>Thank you Cullen for proving my point, I couldn't have said it any better.
>
>Well, maybe we should all just go back to the CB band, oh, yah, that's
>right, we have licenses to be stupid where-ever our license will let us.  I
>look forward not to seeing you c-b'ers on the HF bands.
>
>Fred Olver  n9bso
>
>P.S., or in the CW portions either.  Thank you for not learning CW.
>----- Original Message -----
>From: "Colin McDonald" <
>[log in to unmask]>
>
>To: <
>[log in to unmask]>
>
>Sent: Thursday, July 21, 2005 1:17 AM
>Subject: Re: Reflections on the Past 44 Years
>
> > perhaps the only difference in the hobby these days is that its a little
> > less of an alete group of techy minded individuals and is more open to
> > many
> > different people with different levels of education and who have other
> > interests, perhaps not the biggest of which is amateur radio?
> > is there something terribly wrong with folks on the air who dont spend all
> > their waking hours on the radio or dedicate their lives to ham radio?
> > If they use it as a higher form of CB, well, what is wrong with that,
> > since
> > that is precisely what it is.  Amateur radio is a hobby dedicated to
> > communications through radio devices and which is regulated by licensing
> > but
> > availible to all citizens regardless of their race age sex bla bla bla,
> > which, as it happens, is what the CB band happens to be, except without
> > the
> > licensing aspect.   Citizens band, and with ham radio, bands.
> >
> > Ham radio doesn't have to be all about radio, its about people and the
> > social interaction of people from all over the world who have different
> > interests and different points of view...its not supposed to be all about
> > the discussion of radio theory, or how many contacts you made in the last
> > contest or about how to build antennas, at least, not all the time.
> > There is no reason for the hobby to be open only to those who are
> > technically minded or who give their all to the hobby.  Its open to anyone
> > who chooses to pass the regulated accepted and rather thorough exam that
> > is
> > in place to make sure they have some level of understanding and know their
> > responsibilities.
> > 73
> > Colin, V A6BKX

Louis Kim Kline
A.R.S. K2LKK
Home e-mail:  [log in to unmask]
Work e-mail:  [log in to unmask]
Work Telephone:  (585) 697-5753