Well said, Howard. And with that in mind, I hope everyone contacted congress about the Amateur Parity Act, see https://arrl.rallycongress.net/ctas/urge-congress-to-support-amateur-radio-parity-act. Enter your zip code to find your congressman and send an email. -- Jim, KE5AL -----Original Message----- From: Howard, W A 9 Y B W Sent: Friday, December 18, 2015 11:54 AM To: [log in to unmask] Subject: Re: Are we placing emphasis on the wrong objective? Hi Ron, I agree with most of what you say, however, I feel you left out a crucial issue that hams face today which can contribute to inactivity. The issue is the unreasonable restrictions placed on some of us by heavy-handed homeowners associations. Many of these power hungry ding-bats automatically assume an antenna is going to be an eyesore or somehow offend someone else. Maybe the color of your car offends me and I suppose there are those associations who say all cars must be mauve in color. Okay, I've vented for today. Now I must go and take my meds! Howard #3 ----- Original Message ----- From: "Dr. Ronald E. Milliman" <[log in to unmask]> To: <[log in to unmask]> Sent: Friday, December 18, 2015 10:36 AM Subject: Are we placing emphasis on the wrong objective? > As a follow-up to my previous message regarding the number of hams in this > country, and possibly the world, who earn their licenses but never become > active, at least not on the HF bands, I think the reason is that emphasis > has been placed on the wrong objective for which I largely blame the ARRL. > What I mean is we always refer to the number of hams, the number of new > hams, and our clubs take great pride in the number of people who take > their > classes and pass the ham exams. It is like the objective is on the number > of > hams that pass the ham license exams. This is placing emphasis on entirely > the wrong objective. The objective should be on the number of active hams. > It reminds me of when I was engaged in sales and taught sales at the > university, I never placed the emphasis on the number of sales. I placed > the > focus on the number of satisfied users of the products and services the > customers purchased. We sell products and services to satisfy wants and > needs of our customers. It makes no difference if the customer purchases > the > latest and greatest multi-media wireless widget if it never gets used. > > The same idea applies to ham radio and the number of people we sell on > getting their ham tickets. It is good that we make the sale, but it is > even > better if the people we sell on being a ham become active, purchase ham > gear, and use our repeaters and the many bands and frequencies fought to > get > and maintain. Our repeaters are mostly dead, and our HF bands are mostly > empty, unless there is a contest which seems to bring out all of the > active > hams in existence, making it seem like there are lots and lots of amateur > radio ops slipping out of every corner of the globe. However, even though > this might seem like a lot of hams, and it is, the number is still far > short > of the total number of licensed hams. > > We need to emphasize the many aspects of ham radio and encourage those who > pass their ham license exams to get actively involved with one or more of > those exciting and fun parts of our hobby, rag chewing, chasing DX, > contesting, emergency preparedness, antenna and/or equipment building, > satellite or moon bounce communications, participating in ham club > activities, and the list is almost endless. There are numerous videos > available from the ARRL and other sources that show these many aspects of > ham radio and how fun and rewarding they can be. We need to emphasize the > rewarding parts of being an active amateur radio op and step up and seek > to > be Elmer's to our new hams, helping them not only to get their ham > licenses, > but to be active hams to get the most out of obtaining their ham tickets > and > progressing up the ladder from Tech, to General, and maybe even all the > way > up to Extra class. > > Ron, K8HSY --- This email is free from viruses and malware because avast! Antivirus protection is active. http://www.avast.com --- This email has been checked for viruses by Avast antivirus software. http://www.avast.com