Subj : Re: No license operators
To   : Blue White
From : tenser
Date : Wed Mar 27 2024 06:54 am

On 22 Mar 2024 at 09:13a, Blue White pondered and said...
 
 BW>  > Same thing with HF, frankly.  A lot of old-timers are complaining
 BW>  > that no one wants to upgrade and work HF.  Why would they?  I can
 BW>  > pick up a phone and call pretty much anywhere in the world for
 BW>  > no incremental cost over my usual service.  I can voice and video
 BW>  > chat someone on the other side of the planet in real time over the
 BW>  > Internet similarly.  The niche that radio once held is gone, and
 BW>  > how the kids are all screwed up these days, and b) how his prostate
 BW>  > is acting up again.  Can't say I blame them.
 BW>  
 BW> The niche may be gone until there is an emergency of some sort.  A few
 BW> years back... well, 30 now, doesn't seem that long ago... we had an
 BW> unusually heavy snowstorm for this area.  The authorities had to turn to
 BW> the local HAM community for assistance as other forms of communication
 BW> were overwhelmed or not working.

Yeah, hams like to say that, but _usually_ they overstate
what's actually going on.  Most of the times, when hams are
working on a disaster, they're mostly doing health and
welfare traffic, which is important, but not as important
as they'd like to believe.  Most of the time, served
organizations are better equipped than most hams.

Where hams _could_ have an outsized impact is in training
members of served organizations in how to use the gear that
they've already got.  Organizations have a lot of good
equipment, but much less training in proper radio procedure,
and even less in how to use the equipment that they have
effectively.

Roughly speaking, Amateur Radio can be divided into three
categories: EmComm and emergency preparedness; contesting
and general operating (ye olde "ragchew" on the air); and
building/engineering/tinkering.  The first is almost always
the justification for the spectrum allocation, but is the
most precarious.  The second gets a lot of attention in
ham-related media (the magazines, ARRL, etc).  The third
is falling away, as the people who are inclined towards
that kind of thing aren't interested in the limitations of
the amateur service (no encryption) and hassles of other
hams acting like jerks.  Can't say I blame 'em.

.... Live every day as though it were your last. One day, you'll be right

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