ARRL proposes "fifth pillar" of amateur radio

Technocrat

ARRL proposes "fifth pillar" of amateur radio

David Moisan

Fri May 16 17:39:03 -0700 2008

Amateur+Radio

The ARRL will proclaim tomorrow at Dayton that "technology" be one of the "five pillars of Amateur Radio", along with public service, advocacy, education and membership.

Hasn't it always been about the technology? I have been licensed (N1KGH) for 15 years, and I have always been in it for the technology.

Don Lancaster, well-known electronics writer and guru has called amateur radio "a geriatric parody of itself". He's never been that far off, and lately, I think he speaks the truth.

Technology has, in amateur radio, too often been borrowed from elsewhere. In the 50's, ham radio made its bones from military surplus. In the 80's, packet radio came about, for the most part, from the surplus Bell 212A modems that became avaliable. The only time ham radio ever invented something substantial was in its beginnings in the 20's.

Using surplus items is great. As Gibson puts it, "the street finds its own use for things." Nothing wrong with repurposing things.

But I've always thought--as one who has seen the "code wars" and other flamage--that too many hams just get the license and sit on their tushes...er, "laurels". Despite the common stereotypes, these usually aren't the newer hams or those with "lesser" licenses, but those who've gotten all the credentials (and I say this as an Extra myself) and figure they're God's gift to radio.

These old farts get bitter when the newer generation--what few come in now--doesn't have the same background, outlook or even resources that they had "in the good old days". Remember when shortwave radio was the "gateway" to "real radio"? Me too.

But shortwave is dying and I haven't had an antenna plugged into my receiver in months. WWII surplus? Good luck on eBay!

Technology should have been our first pillar! It should have always been our first pillar. It should always be our first pillar. At one time, it was.

Then public service, which is often the only good explaination we have for existing to our governments. Education is another way we make our bones, but educating who and what?

Advocacy and Membership are fine but they don't mean a thing without a greater purpose. As an ARRL member and a comment filer in several FCC NPRM's, I'm not sure sometimes what to advocate for, or even if it matters in the world at large.

I have always thought, and sometimes said, that Amateur Radio would pay dearly for the elitist attitudes they had in the '60's and '70's when they drove away anyone interested in technology who didn't jump through their hoops. It's telling that I never got my license until relatively later in my life (at 30), when I had been interested in electronics at a very young age. (My "favorite" book at age 3: An old Lafayette catalog!)

People were driven away just at the worst time in our history, when technology was considered "bad". This generation of new blood is gone forever. Now, technology is just something that pixies make for us overseas.

Joel Harrison said the right things. But his predecessors needed to say those things many years ago.

Too late.

ARRL proposes "fifth pillar" of amateur radio

wowbagger

Fri May 16 18:34:29 -0700 2008

That's why I think the work that groups like TAPR, and individuals like Bruce are doing at bringing Free software and ham radio together are so important, and why I feel so strongly about NOT letting things like D*STAR prevent hams from experimentation.
Yes, it's a real kick talking around the world on 100W - I remember how pumped I was a couple of years ago to go from eastern Kansas to Hawa'ii on 100W into a screwdriver on the back of my car. However, getting the average kid who chats world-wide on his computer to feel that same thrill takes some work. That's why things like Kid's day on the air (my own group will be on the air for that) are important, as are things like the TAPR SoftRock project.
Sad to say, but most kids aren't going to ever hold a soldering iron, but you *might* get them interested in working with their computer and ham radio, *IF* they actually can get their hands on the code, and it's not all locked up in proprietary, binary only code.
And one thing I think is DESPERATELY important is when some old fart starts giving ANYBODY grief on the air, the rest of us shut his ass down HARD and FAST! Here in Kansas we had a real piece of work who lived to give anybody shit he could - but because he was an old time military radio operator "back in the day" and because he was friends with all the other old farts he was not only tolerated but encouraged - and that's why, while I will work on damn near any repeater for any club in the area, I *refuse* to work on the repeater he hangs out on - and if he EVER pulls that crap on a Wichita Amateur Radio club repeater I will shut him down hard and if needed get the WARC board to swing the banhammer. The last thing we need is for a kid's first experience on the air to be some old fart griefing him off the air.

How does that work?

zogger

Fri May 16 18:59:29 -0700 2008

What does he do to get young guys so annoyed? And why don't they just drive over and kickhizazz?

How does that work?

wowbagger

Fri May 16 19:27:14 -0700 2008

Ohhh, let's see:
If the person has the slightest trace of static in the background AT ALL, he will give them grief about not running a "Real Radio" (nevermind that pesky part 97 "use no more power than needed" stuff, that's not really a REGULATION or anything.)

If they make any mistake what-so-ever in what HE thinks is "proper operating procedure", he lays into them. Didn't ID when HE though you should? ID'd when he didn't think it was needed? GRIEF.

He will start making veiled threats, and if you call him on those threats (e.g. he started threatening to come over and "set me straight" - I told him that if we wanted to do so he'd better be able to run faster than 3600 feet per second) then he gets all offended and "threatened".

And many more things that I don't remember off the top of my head because I quickly decided not to deal with him.
And as for showing up in person: In person he was pretty pathetic: an old diabetic drunk - and that was one of the favorite excuses for his behavior: "He's not such a bad guy, he just gets a little off when he's drunk, cause he's diabetic" (to which I've replied "Then he shouldn't be drinking at all, and if he is going to drink he should stay off the radio.")
Unfortunately, the repeater he hangs out on is operated by a like-minded bunch of old farts, who will make excuses for him, egg him on on the air, and generally support and enable his behavior. Curiously enough, that group has NOT been getting many new members, and people stay off that repeater, even though it is a hell of a good machine with pretty wide area coverage. I wonder why....
Unfortunately, ham radio suffers from the same psychology as Internet gaming and forums, as the guys at Penny Arcade so accurately put it:

nimrods

zogger

Sat May 17 06:15:31 -0700 2008

oh well, sucks. There are jerks inside any organized hobby. I have a beef with just CB, I have some, would like to use them here for casual communication around the farm, because I already own them, but it seems the surrounding ether is saturated with spanish language *music*. You hardly ever actually hear any talking, just apparent one way broadcasts that are allowed to go on with most/all the CB freqs. Enough so I haven't even bothered firing one up in a long time. I have some FRS but they don't have the range or convenience a regular 12 vdc CB has, all of them I have seen are form factor small pocket size meaning battery drain all the time, so don't use them much either. And today, cellphones are so cheap and easy and you can actually have at least a semi private conversation that....well, you get the picture. And I think that is a big part of why so many people aren't interested in HAM radio, the gear is expensive (I haven't seen any sitting on the shelf around here at all lately, even at capacitor hut) and it is wide open to anyone to listen in and jump in or whatever, I think it just turns a lot of people off. I can see the advantages, and so can a lot of other folks into radio, but to most people it is buggywhip tech, and the times when it isn't-natural disasters that knock out cell towers or internet access etc, is just not frequent enough in occurrence to make it worthwhile to them. Now our electric company in georgia has an interesting offer, cellphone service plus you get access to their really good set of repeaters they have over the southeast on some commercial band they seem to own, giving you a spiffy option. In the same cellphone! Joe motorola phone, etc, has some service band in addition to it, and AFAIK, they are the only ones who offer those handsets (I could be wrong on that though). It is called southernlinc.

ARRL proposes "fifth pillar" of amateur radio

Beryllium Sphere(r)

Fri May 16 20:49:28 -0700 2008

What technology needs kickstart funding now to keep ham radio interesting and relevant?
Broadband data radio is one candidate. 2.4 GHz is awfully crowded, but a transverter from there to one of the ham-only bands would open up some fun experimentation with cheap commercial gear at Part 97 EIRP.
N6GN and KE5FX pioneered LAN-speed microwave links but there seems to have been dead silence on that front since the last century. And the KE5FX project would have been point-to-point only.

ARRL proposes "fifth pillar" of amateur radio

Michael Smith

Sat May 17 04:31:13 -0700 2008

What technology needs kickstart funding now to keep ham radio interesting and relevant?

Wireless mesh networking has a lot in common with amateur radio. Perhaps it is time to think seriously about distributed infrastructure, maintained by volunteers and small scale operators. Your point about LAN speed microwave links is interesting.

ARRL proposes "fifth pillar" of amateur radio

wowbagger

Sat May 17 06:11:45 -0700 2008

The only problem I see with that are part 97's "no encryption" and "no commercial traffic" provisions: sure I can set up a part 97 mesh of 802.11 nodes, but I cannot let any commercial traffic pass, nor any encrypted traffic. Just how useful is that?
Consider one real-world situation: I have a couple of repeaters that I'd love to get some form of data connectivity to: if I could do that I could set up an APRS node, IRLP/Echolink, and even restore the autopatch we had to drop because it was too expensive. However, the question is "How do I get data connectivity out there?". If I ran 802.11 from somebody's house to the site using part 97, I could have some power, but then Little Leet (unlicensed) Billy could stumble across the link and start to phuxor with it - I could have an unlicensed person operating the link. If I run encryption on the link so Billy is locked out, then I have to run part 15.
Consider email and packet: 2400 baud packet over 2 meters would be fast enough for email (so long as you aren't retrieving huge attachments). Imagine how nice it would be to be able to check your mail just about anywhere (this would be REALLY nice for RV'ers - they don't always have good cell coverage at a lot of the camp sites). BUT: I cannot check my mail safely over such a link, because I don't know what I can view until I've viewed it - I damn sure wouldn't want my "your bill is ready" mails from my credit cards transiting an unencrypted and open link!
Unfortunately, I don't see how to change this - first of all I fear that allowing encryption would have an over-all negative impact on the hobby, and even were that not true, there is NO WAY any government would allow it.

that's the point

zogger

Sat May 17 08:51:53 -0700 2008

It is restricted, complex and you can't do much with it other than DXing around. There is very little practical use for it now outside of serious major disasters, and the telcos are working on fast deployable portable cell tower stations that they will be using. I even looked into what is required to operate a commercial shortwave station, egads it is expensive. Not the gear so much if you were to run SSB, the dang licensing month per month. I gave it up much as I would like a radio station. The same with conventional am and fm, even low low power for just a small local community station, it gets near impossible unless you are a millionaire. And "pirate" stations-run by folks who are really trying to offer something besides normal clear channel pap, get busted by the HAMS all the time, even when they aren't interfering with anything else and have a clean signal, the "oh goody, I found something to narc on" mindset there is huge, even though we the people really *need* alternatives to the government censored and controlled bilderberger "media".

Basically, most radio is run for the corporations, ham radio is run for guys to DX around and play with their antennas, that is why there isn't much interest in two way radio anymore-once you have it up and running and have your license and are skilled..then what to do with it? I am not dissing radio, I think it is spiffy, I must own two dozen various radios including a 2 meter handy and a 10 meter mobile and various shortwave receivers, but the ham shack old pharts establishment and the government make it mostly impractical for most people, there's just no/not much point to it now that folks have cellphones and the net. I think what hams there are are going to have their hands full to keep what you have, I don't think fatherland security (in the US or anyplace really) wants people to be able to communicate outside of totally controlled channels, even though they play-act at letting it continue, the handwriting is on the wall there. And as to the technology, electronic stuff is binary now with integrated circuits, works or don't work and chuck it out. Short of becoming an EE, too hard to diagnose and fix stuff, let along the expense of it. If people really want HAM radio to be readopted like it was in the 50s and 60s, they are going to have to come up with a "case" for it, why it is still useful and something a lot of people would really need to have the skills and gear for, because it is an extensive hobby to get good at. Short of that, long term decline, inevitable.

ARRL proposes "fifth pillar" of amateur radio

brouhaha

Sat May 17 13:14:19 -0700 2008

If either the "no commerical traffic" or "no encryption" rules are lifted, that will be the end of amateur radio, as the spectrum will immediately be gobbled up by commercial interests and become completely useless to amateurs.