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" <
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To: <
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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