Because the use of a repeater can be limited by its trustee and because many EMA's, etc, are owning repeaters through government grants, it is incumbent upon hams to act if they want to protect frequency allocations.
My local club recently turned down a repeater to replace an aging repeater of the club. The local EMA attached strings to the grant; couldn't move the repeater location, understanding that the repeater was part of it's (EMA's) emergency plan, and the club would have to maintain the equipment. The club had planned to move the repeater and did. We have advised the EMA director that control of amateur frequencies will remain with amateurs. Finally, the equipment was inappropriate for ham use since it cannot be maintained by hams. The club is rehabbing a GE Master 2 which we can maintain quite well.
It is important for clubs (and repeater councils) to realize who is owning and really controlling these stations. It was tough to turn down a $5k grant but this is a hobby that can be used to assist in emergency communications, not the other way around.
Dana
§ 97.1 Basis and purpose.
The rules and regulations in this part are designed to provide an amateur
radio service having a fundamental purpose as expressed in the following
principles:
(a) Recognition and enhancement of the value of the amateur service to the public as a voluntary noncommercial communication service, particularly with respect to providing emergency communications.
(b) Continuation and extension of the amateur’s proven ability to contribute
to the advancement of the radio art.
(c) Encouragement and improvement of the amateur service through rules
which provide for advancing skills in both the communication and technical
phases of the art.
(d) Expansion of the existing reservoir within the amateur radio service
of trained operators, technicians, and electronics experts.
(e) Continuation and extension of the amateur’s unique ability to enhance
international goodwill.
If you don't like the policy then do something other than griping or complaining otherwise give up your spot so someone else can enjoy the hobby instead of making it unpleasant for the rest of us who still enjoy the many different modes to communicate. Be pro-active or simply don't renew the license instead of continuing the suffrage among who enjoy the different parts of our privileges. Doing it here is simply is like spitting in the wind and i don't feel like getting get any further rained on my parade...lol
Do you comprehend the words you emphasized? LIke "Voluntary?" And "non-commercial?" And "value to the public?"
None of those indicate hospitals, police departments, fire departments, taxi companies, fuel delivery companies, aircraft operations, UPS, Fed-X, or any other entity should be installing and using amateur radio for their 'business.' They can install it and use it as an amateur radio CLUB. But not to conduct their business, and this is where we are having troubles, especially with hospitals.
You may, if you looked closely, have noted there are also four OTHER reasons for the existence of amateur radio. I see you did not emphasize them.
What ham radio is NOT: civic duty; cell phone; ambulance, hospital, fire or police radio; ISP, CB, FRS, GMRS, Marine, aviation. No one should be required to obtain a ham license as a part of his job!!
My only comments are;
I think it would be interesting to see the price tag on the same setup but speced P25. I bet it's nearly tipple.
And I would have much preferred to see the grant money come from private funding instead of the taxpayers. Especially when the economy is the way it is.
Bill, ITF, I think it unlikely that amateur radio will go all digital anytime in the forseeable future. Perhaps in 40 years? Maybe 30.
It doesn't matter if it is Icom technology or open technology. What matters is the diverse interests in the hobby. Some folks just love working CW. Some enjoy SSB. Most enjoy the challenge of connecting with the 'weak ones." With digital voice, that becomes impossible.
And that last bit may be what keeps digital away. We don't all want full quieting arm chair copy. We want to dig out the little guy, and have a personal and mental challenge in separating him from the nearby signals. With digital, as we now see with digital TV, it is there, or it is gone. There is no "weak one."
Amateur radio would become terribly unexciting if every contact, even on HF, was full quieting. And because so many signals would not be able to break into the digital threshold, the bands would become far quieter at any given point. The actual availability of someone to talk to would go downhill fast, as only the guys with the big signals could be heard at all. The rest of the band would be dead silent. And dead.
Tuining 20 meters would be like tuning 2 meters. Mostly silence, and now and then a big signal would pop through.
Though our hobby has changed, and is no longer one of much challenge, there is a bit of the old attitude left, of "I don't want perfection. I want to work for it." No, not much. But some. Certainly we are no longer a technical hobby as we once were, and that is because technology has made it impossible for the majority of us to work on our radios. We are Plug and Play, for the most part.
But we still operate. And once we go full digital, it will be nothing more than Sprint or Verizon, and we will suffer from "dropped calls." I think without the challenge ham radio will finally crawl into its coffin and not even have the strength to roll over.
What ham radio is NOT: civic duty; cell phone; ambulance, hospital, fire or police radio; ISP, CB, FRS, GMRS, Marine, aviation. No one should be required to obtain a ham license as a part of his job!!
... While the older generation is dying off, we need to keep this hobby alive and still enjoy the hobby perhaps getting rid of the dead wood that make the enjoyment of our spectrum privileges less enjoyable for everyone.
It's unclear from your final statement whether this "dead wood" consists of licensees, equipment, band plans, or perhaps some combination of all three.
Perhaps I conform to the generalization, being unable to justify spending $400 for the latest version of the Plasti-Crap 2000.
It's unclear from your final statement whether this "dead wood" consists of licensees, equipment, band plans, or perhaps some combination of all three.
Perhaps I conform to the generalization, being unable to justify spending $400 for the latest version of the Plasti-Crap 2000.
I think he is assuming these new ecomm whack-a-tards are going to save a hobby that is doing just fine. It's the same line from these guys over and over. Ecomm whacking is the most important part of the emergency service that ham radio has transitioned into.
__________________ Jogging is for people who wear velour track suits and look like a Soprano. I, am a runner. If you tried to catch up to me or keep up with me, you would never get jogging and running confused - ever again.
Almost every ham I ever met truly detests any advancement in technology that they know will eventually cost them money.
When I was first licensed in 1958 I met many an "old timer" who were still complaining bitterly about having to have "spent my green stamps to build a transmitter with tubes when thir retired rotary spark was still working. In the 1960's I was one of the first people ever on 6 and 2 meter SSB when 98% of all activity was AM. While I was talking to stations 300 - 400 miles away on a regular basis, they could sometimes hear Pennsylvania from NYC on AM. I was regularly accused of "lying my teeth off to justify the expense of that Donald Duck gear that was messin' up 6 and was just not right." The only problem was that it was hard for the "AM forever" crowd to dispute the audiotapes or sitting there with me as I worked with ease from Brooklyn into Maryland, the Carolina's, Ohio, etc. so they simply complained that it was not worth the money for them to talk a bit further. Not the technology in itself but the fact that it would cost them to adopt it. 10 years later, all but the most die-hards were on 6 meter SSB.
In 1965 almost all 2 meter operation was AM direct using 4 to 10 watt transceivers. The Gonset Communicators for those who could afford them and HJeath Twoers for those who could not. Talking across town was possible -- but that was it. Out on the West coast -- thanks to the late Art Gentry, W6MEP, AM repeaters were on the air -- most based on the design of his famed K6MYK machine. Actually, K6MYK, had been on the air from Mt. Lee since the early 1950's but it was not until the late 1960's that the repeater concept caught on. FM and cheap out of service FM taxicab and police radios were found to perform far better than AM and FM bgan to grow. Gentry's repeater concept was also adopted and the "FM revolution" began. But those on AM loudly complained that FM meant buying a new radio and it was not worth "...going on a repeaterizer just to talk further." By 1980, its was estimated by the now defunct Amateur Radio Manufacturers Assn that 4 out of every 5 active US hams was on 2 meter AM. Hmmmmm.
Now the time is here for the switch from analog to digital. Not just on the VHF and UHF bands -- buit HF as well. D-Star is only the beginning. As good as FM is -- and I am one of its biggest proponents -- the modes days are numbered -- just as SSB and CW days are numbered on HF. Its not going to happen right now, but digital will eventually replace analog in all phases of communications -- including hobby radio. Maybe it will not be D-Star on VHF/UHF -- albeit that mode has years of lead on all others thanks to Icom. None the less, I would not spend a dime for any new analog-only radio -- for any band -- knowing that the mode is on its way out.
Sure the same mindset that opposed carrier based Morse, that opposed the introduction of AM, of FM and of repeaters will still be out there -- but like SSB and FM in our lifetime -- digital will succeed as soon as the price is comparable with analog gear -- or at least close to it.
Come back in 10 years and take a listen. Likely most analog will be gone and something digital will have replaced whats being used now.
de WA6ITF
Sorry, but analog will never go away. It doesn't matter how much you wish it. It's not going to happen. These new wonder modes have been out for some time now and no one is jumping on board, except the emcomm crowd and that is not even close to any sort of decent percentage of ops. This massive switch is not happening and it's not because people are afraid to spend or are resisting change. No one likes it and that is the bottom line. It's not doing more with less. It's doing less with more and no one cares for it.
Sure the same mindset that opposed carrier based Morse, that opposed the introduction of AM, of FM and of repeaters will still be out there -- but like SSB and FM in our lifetime -- digital will succeed as soon as the price is comparable with analog gear -- or at least close to it.
Come back in 10 years and take a listen. Likely most analog will be gone and something digital will have replaced whats being used now.
de WA6ITF
You are absolutely correct that our ever shrinking (but still overly vocal) Luddite contingent wants absolutely nothing to do with such progress. In fact, even the thought of "progress" scares the living daylights out of most of them.
I also have it on good authority (from those who are dealing directly with our FCC and the ITU) that, unless and until we start populating and really using our bands above 2m, they WILL eventually be taken from us and passed on to another spectrum user. There is simply too much demand for the increasingly valuable (in the commercial sense) spectrum space in these regions for us to continue "farming" what we have there for our eventual use "someday". Any way you cut it, we are simply NOT justifying our fee-free "lease" on our bands at these frequencies. So, in that sense, the "Little LEO", "Pave Paws" and "Medical Equipment" frequency sharing issues our Service has been facing as of late on these bands are just the tip of the iceberg.
I also wholeheartedly agree that if we have ANY hope of hanging on to what's left of our bands going forward, digital WILL, of necessity, become the way of our future...regardless of the wails of protest from our ever-shrinking Luddite contingent. That is, just like buggy whips and analog watches, our mainstream analog modes of today will eventually go the way of the dinosaur as more and more reasonably priced digital equipment comes on the market.
Indeed, Icom recently unveiled a new HF/VHF/UHF/SHF base radio to support their D-Star system. Called the IC-9100, it sports analog and D-Star digital capabilities on our 28, 50, 144, 430/440 and 1.2 GHz bands.
So, in that sense, Bill, I think your "ten year" prediction may very well now be much closer to five. This assumes, of course, that our ever-growing number of aging and dying Hams versus youthful newcomers hasn't already "done us in" as a separate radio service by then.
I also have it on good authority (from those who are dealing directly with our FCC and the ITU) that,
Keith
KB1SF / VA3KSF
Spare us another haveitongoodauthority. Most of us grow weary of your unamed sources. This discussion is not about the merits of one mode over anbother. Your and others are trying to avoid the issue by changing it.
We were discussng the emcom wackers selling a bill of goods to state agencies who acquire large federal grants to purchase ham gear. Actually it's not the purchase but the insertion of amateur gear and spectrum into an area it does not beling. Nothing about digital v analog.
Spare us another haveitongoodauthority. Most of us grow weary of your unamed sources. This discussion is not about the merits of one mode over anbother. Your and others are trying to avoid the issue by changing it.
We were discussng the emcom wackers selling a bill of goods to state agencies who acquire large federal grants to purchase ham gear. Actually it's not the purchase but the insertion of amateur gear and spectrum into an area it does not beling. Nothing about digital v analog.
NI7I
Exactly, it's not a digital v. FM debate - despite Bill trying to make it one. It's about tax dollars being given out as grants for a hobby.
There is no such thing as free money. All grants come with conditions and terms. Those hidden parts can get costly in the future.
__________________ Jogging is for people who wear velour track suits and look like a Soprano. I, am a runner. If you tried to catch up to me or keep up with me, you would never get jogging and running confused - ever again.
We appreciate your support.
Take a deep breath
Linear Mode
