New Callsign Format for Australian Foundation Licencees

Of course, I said what I said in mostly in jest. I would never let a callsign get in the way of my enjoyment of the hobby.

 

I still can't get over the fact that guy went to all that trouble to make that hate-on-you video.

 

And he was not the only one. What can I say, i have that effect on people who think passing an exam made them important LOL.

 

I published the survey link on another forum topic on this site as a potential resolution to a technical issue and didn't get any of the vitriol I am seeing here!

FWIW I have made over 100 FT8 and a few JS8 contacts since the beginning of October and have great fun doing so. My only gripe with the seven character call sign was that I couldn't put my grid square in the Std messages of WSJT-X. I now just include it into my logbook comments for the other operator if they need it.

I don't really care if I get a revised call sign or not, all I want to do is contribute to the hobby in a POSITIVE and UNIFIED way.

Perhaps we should all do the same... the hobby may just survive a bit longer that way.

 

If it was me, it would be the fcalls being asked what they want, not everyone else. You are the guys who deal with the license every time you operate, not me. The few fcalls i have spoken to about it are like you and its not a real issue for them. For me, this and the lcd update come across as what are we elites going to do about the fcall problem. It seems the last person any of the peak bodies wants to talk to about this with are actual fcalls, its like your input is not valued.

 

I'd be interested in why we ended up with a seven character call sign in the first place. It seems odd to me and perhaps a bit nearsighted. From memory the UK Foundation calls have five characters?
Perhaps moving to a six character call sign just brings us into line with the larger usergroups globally.

 

Well one of the stories I got told, and this is probably 50% truth and 50% fiction, is back in the day when the fcall idea was being debated within the WIA, then, like today there was a very vocal minority who were totally opposed to the idea of having an entry license and wanted it canned. One of those harshest critics of the idea was Glen Dunstan the rasa guy named in the OP who at the time was on the board of the WIA. Once it became apparent that fcall was going to be supported and they could not stop it, they did the next best thing they could. They crippled it.

Then when you look at what rasa proposed for fcalls during the LCD update, and they proposed you get nothing and advanced calls get 1.5kw, this trying to fix fcalls starts to look very disingenuous. The same goes with the statement rasa has no position here. But they do, 1 of the 2 options is their option and guess what, its the option that keeps fcalls segregated from the rest of the amateur cohort. Because fcalls are not one of us. They are something different and need to be treated different.

And then anyone who points out the truth of things is accused of bullying them. So anyway, to answer your question why, the answer is small men who think passing an exam has made them special and anything that takes away from that is something to be denied.

 

what a load of rubbish - the RASA is basically 4 people putting forward their own views - how can they put forward the views of the community - there paid up members could not even speak at the annual general meeting which was attended by only 2 people - they do lobby but lobby for 4 people not for the community not for the hobby - with less then 400 members they are certainly not any where near a peak body nor a lobby for the hobby - if thats what they believe then prove it by allowing members to attend a General meeting where policies can be put and debated and voted on rather then using an amateurism survey where any one any where in the world of any nationality can "determine " what is important to the Australian Amateur Radio hobby -

 

328 members was the number i hear was in their report. There are clubs in VK3 and VK5 with more members than they have. What rasa represents is self interest and not a whole lot more. I have 1200 people follow me on facebook, that would make me a greater peak body than rasa. At least the wia represents about 4000 amateurs something like 45% of the cohort, which is something more than the 4% of rasa followers.

 

Rob, I was waiting for that !

Just like much of the posts that the 1200 in the group that you run spins?

Just like the 4500+ in that Amateur (HAM) Radio Australia (de)Facebook cesspool that do not deviate from a solidly conservative backward-looking stance?

Time that you ended Facebook rants (and providing the support for such negativity) , dropped the Political Amateur hat, become a real constructive Amateur that promotes and develops AR (rather than smart dismissing Amateurs - which really can be considered to be bullying by many) and started to work some real Amateurs on REAL Radio.

Sheesh, I made 5 contacts on 80m in the time that it took me to write this post and crunched data for a number of in and outward QSL cards !!!

 

Let's end discussion on this post as its putting Amateur Radio backwards !

 

I don't know, I like to read stuff like this, as it illustrates that it's not just the U.S. ham community that has these kinds of debates.

Here, we effectively did away with distinctive callsigns, because we ran out of most of the desirable ones. My call is a General/Technician call, even though I have been an Extra for close to 50 years. I've had both the 1X2 and 2X1 calls, but I selected this one due to it's similarity to my original WB6 call, and ease of understanding. I may someday change, but probably not if I remain in the zero call district.

I like the VJ idea - a new prefix is always fun.

 

Firstly I do not run a group on facebook, I was joking about my friends list being a bigger peak body than rasa, its humor. Secondly I do not know what happens in AHRA or any other VK ham group because I am not a member of any of them and have not been for quite some time, i have better things to do with my time. The only facebook groups I am a member of are all home brew related, because that is my focus in the hobby.

I will give you the benefit of the doubt in that you might have me confused with someone else. As for bullying. Holding rasa to account for lies and misinformation is not bullying, its demanding the truth, transparency and accountability. And I think we will find out exactly what the truth is in a couple of days time when the WIA makes its statement about this. Because the word i got from the wia is that they do not support a social media survey that is open for the whole world to partake in. And you Steven published it here on QRZ.

Nor is the survey even credible, there are no checks and balances, to ensure 1 person has 1 say. All you need to do is change browsers and you can vote again. I have 3 computers, 4 phones and 3 tablets in this house, 4 browsers on each of them and i can vote 40 times. That is hardly a survey of amateurs in Australia, it is a joke that can be easily manipulated by a few actors to get the result they want.

You want to change call sign structures in the country, do it right the first time. Talk to fcalls about what they want and first see if it is a problem they want solved. Then put together a number of the best options, then put those options to the amateur cohort in Australia and do it in a way that cannot be manipulated. What this survey monkey is, is a joke. And everyone involved should be ashamed of themselves for making an important issue into a total debacle. And in that regard Steven, you are as guilty as the group you spruik for. It was you who published the link which was meant to be send to vk amateurs only on QRZ for all the world to be a part of.

And that is not bullying you Steven, that is the facts of how many see things.

No its not this discussion putting ham radio backwards. Is the people who take important issues and turn them into clown car crashes like this survey has become.

Rasa wants to be taken seriously. They need to apologise for the harm they cause me and many of my friends, and then they need to start acting in the best interests of the hobby. Because up until now, everything they have touched has turned to crap. This is just another episode in what can we make a mess of next. I support changing the call sign structure, its another thing that is long overdue. But I do not and will not support it being done in such a stupid and easily manipulated way as this. Its a joke and an embarrassment to the intelligence of the greater radio community.

 

Read your own own posts and see how they come across.... and I have had heaps of landline calls and been a participant in a chat (that I by luck encountered while scanning) on HF that supports I have not "drawn a long bow" !

Negativity and sarcasm puts AR backwards as it encourages the "gobble-gobbles" (turkeys) out there that you know are vicious in tearing Australian AR apart - the same "gobble-gobbles" that have created a toxic culture has left AR as a very undesirable place for our partners, ladies , children, grandchildren, nieces, nephews and just general friends.

[ Unfortunately there are a number of very active "gobble-gobbles" coming from your very own state ! ]

I have received up to 10 death threats a week for calling out bullying. The mindset in Australia is to ACTIVELY ENCOURAGE CALLING OUT OF BULLYING AND BAD BEHAVIORS (even sponsored by our PM Scott Morrison MP). Yes there are orders out there protecting me and my wife Donna VK3LDY against fellow Amateurs that hide behind concepts that can only be classified as cowardice; cowards that are too inarticulate to own up and to say things to my face. As an Assessor I am VERY contactable.

Yet its me and others out there (some WIA, Some RASA yet most unaligned) that are calling out the bad behaviour that get banned from cesspools like Amateur (HAM) Radio Australia on (de)Facebook

The WIA who I used to be an active participant with - especially as an assessor and author for AR - refuses to acknowledge that they set the template for cultures i.e. articles in print, in AR and distorted news and comments in their broadcast. The two remnant "State Divisions" that exist do not help either as some "mates" hide actively in these as well.

Once the past is acknowledged - rather than ignored - it leaves no place left to move nor no "bitch space" left. The only move left is forward. (i.e. as was the "Sorry" argument with State Aboriginal Child removals in this country).

The only way that AR can move forward is for THOSE THAT SET THE CULTURE or are in leadership in ORGANISATIONS THAT SET CULTURES to OWN UP TO AND ACKNOWLEDGE ISSUES ... and then to deal with it swiftly and aggressively and then themselves ACT WITH THE HIGHEST COMMUNITY ETHICAL STANDARDS from that point forwards.

That may mean censuring mates - yes even mates that rep Amateurs to The ACMA; that may mean "retiring" mates that cause problems or have been the big cause of issues (often in past lives).

That is where cultures in Clubs are different to Lobby Groups.... Clubs support people; lobby groups represent opinion to those with authority.

Yet as WIA Secretary Peter Clee has stated to me often (and via voice) "The WIA does not deal with history" ... it refuses to let go once and for all and accept its deep dark nasty past of the Wilton/Linton/Owen philosophy of suppression via isolation and bullying. You should see the ducks and weaves that I have in email from The WIA in avoiding issues.

No matter - I am not compelled to be a member of that organisation now ... and I will not be until it either opens up and apologies to me and others that it has actively defamed; it knows what it has to do - that being to SUPPORT ME and OTHERS that it has actively bad-mouthed under the Wilton/Linton/Owen philosophy. Its afraid of being pursued legally; yet those of us affected won't do that as we want to see The WIA survive and thrive.

Yet sometimes for survival there must be a phoenix phase. It takes great guts and skill to be a phoenix especially when some fo the problems are your own mates.

Who would want to be a part of AR with the toxicity that is around AR at the moment? Yet some out there STILL push for survival reform as we have a passion for AR and its growth.

Join The HAM Revolution Rob. Help All Mankind. Think carefully about what you say and how you say it - and what effect that what you say can have on the "gobble-gobbles" out there that have nothing better to do but bitch on keyboards.

I will not be discussing matters further on here.

 

This is probably the best decision you made today. You see, where I come from when a person stuffs up royally they don't get to say I am trying to fix ham radio and you are not, so its all ok. They get to say yeah I stuffed up royally and I need to do what I can to address that. And in this case Steven, you stuffed up royally by posting the link to the survey onto an international forum thus potentially biasing the results. Rasa stuffed up royally by setting up a survey in such a manner that 1 person can manipulate the result by voting many times thus biasing the result or getting the result they want.

If you or rasa for that matter want to join the ham radio revolution and help mankind, how about starting with growing up and acting like adults and accept responsibility for your actions and stuff ups. Admit to them and then do something about fixing them. You see Steven, your reply above contains a lot of straw men and not a single response to the issue that you stuffed up and the process as as outlined by rasa was flawed to begin with.

As i said in my post above, you want my support on this issue, it starts by doing things right in the first place, it starts by doing things in a way that is not easily manipulated. I am not against who is doing it, i am not against what you are doing, I am however against HOW its being done, and so far this has been done as a train wreck. A survey where 1 person can vote multiple times is not a survey it is a joke that should be rejected. It is meaningless.

And being the thinker that you are Steven, who wants to help mankind, you should be able to see that and you should be demanding more, demanding better and demanding that things are done in a manner that cannot be manipulated. That is what Adults do Steven, that is what people of honour and integrity do and its what people of principle do. That is what people who actually care about their hobby do.