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