Text 421, 54 rader
Skriven 2007-02-08 15:39:01 av Michiel van der Vlist (2:280/5555)
    Kommentar till text 408 av Thom LaCosta (1:261/1352.0)
Ärende: Morse code...
=====================
Hello Thom!

On Tuesday February 06 2007 07:31, you wrote to me:

 TL>> we have a perfect example here of the results of relaxed
 TL>> entrance requirements...Citizens Band....and now, the Family and
 TL>> General Mobile Radio Services.

 MvdV>> That is not HAM radio. It has little or no bearing on what
 MvdV>> happens on the HAM bands.

 TL> No, when folks who are on CB, FRS and GMRS find that they can easily
 TL> obtain access to the spectrum used by hams....a number of them will
 TL> enter the hobby, and a number of them will bring their poor operating
 TL> habits with them.

Again I think your fears are unfounded. At the end of the 70ties, CB was
illegal here. Nevertheless there were an estimated 5 to 10.000 CB stations in
The Netherlands. The then minister of communication "solved" the problem by
creating a HAM novice licence. 6 FM channels in the 2 metre band, 10 Watt max,
Type approved equipment only, no tampering with it.  The test was simple enough
and anyone able to learn the answers to the pool of 1000 questions could pass.

We were extremely worried. We feared we would be swarmed with the new influx
with their CB operating practise. But... it didn't happen. Yes, there was a big
influx, over a 1000 new hams (on a population of 3000) in a year. For "solving
the CB problem" this was a drop in the ocean and in the end they had no choice
but to legalize CB.

For the ham bands these 1000 new hams - and another 1000 in the next year, was
indeed a major event. A temporary event though. Most of the new novices quickly
got tired of the ham bands and left within a couple of month and the remaining
ones quickly adapted. The "problem", if there ever was one, did not last. The
new ones learned operating procedures from the old ones and what remained were
fine Hams.

 TL> There's a disturbing trend in the US society...less and less personal
 TL> responsibiity...in order to fuel the economic engine we place icons of
 TL> hamburgers on the keys of cash registers...and that way, those that
 TL> can not read at all, or read English can process orders for unhealthy
 TL> food.

Hmmm.. disturbing indeed.... :-(

 TL> In my opinion, lowering the bar to enter ham radio is another example
 TL> of the diminuation of values.

HAM radio is not about values. It is about experimenting with radio as a hobby.


Cheers, Michiel

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