What Amateur Radio Is All About

I found this local article posted and thought I'd share it with all of you. It goes to show how valid and important amateur radio is to us and how we can give back our talents to our communities. Enjoy!

http://www.cheboygannews.com/article/20140815/NEWS/308159959/10114/LIFESTYLE

73s de KC8RLU.

 

That is a great article! Thanks

 

Indeed. Thanks for posting it

 

I definitely agree & concur, this is a very good & well written article about the ham radio hobby. I've read too many articles in the past where they always manage to make some dumb comment or say something ignorant & stupid about our hobby. It's about time to read something that puts us in a positive light.

 

Wonderfully positive article, especially by showing a young man who works world. At the risk of starting an old debate, the only quibble I have is the mention of Morse without explaining that it's no longer required. That might scare off a few people who are phobic about code. But otherwise it was solid all the way through. I wish we could get more articles like this out to the public. Thanks for sharing.

 

This article was written by freelance writer & editor Marti Attoun. I sent her a complement on the article. If you would like to do the same I found the link to her website. Just click on the Contact tab to send her a message.

http://www.martiattoun.com/publications.html

 

Thank you for the link. I also sent her a message.

 

Thanks for the link and I sent a message thanking her also.

 

Why the concern about validity? There's never been a moment when I doubted the validity of the hobby and service.

Yes, it was a fine article, except for "the dial on the amateur radio....". The word amateur is a modifier, an adjective in this sentence. When used properly, it modifies "operator", a person, but never a box of electronics, or the antenna, nor the microphone. There are radios, there are high frequency radios, shortwave radios, homebuilt radios, VHF and UHF radios, but amateur must refer to a person. Our hobby is primarily about communication. Let us encourage correct communication.

 

I also sent the author a compliment on her article.

 

§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.

This above IS what amateur radio's purpose.

 

Great article, and in the tradition of QRZ there is the usual great ham spirit displayed in the comments. I assume this is just to scare people off as usual!

 

Glad to see I wasn't the only one to notice the appearance of one of the Zed's most curmudgeonly of curmudgeons in the comments, complete with a link to his YouTube channel. Some people just baffle me.

 

Just goes to show how easy the so called FCC exam is. In my day it wasn't easy for a 15 year old to pass the exam and there were not many 15 year old General Class.
Almost anyone with a wee bit of studying can pass the Technician exam and it doesn't take much more to pass the General. In the 60's when Ham radio was really ham radio and not just a bunch of "hackers" one would have to study the better part of a year to pass the General exam.

Mike W6QZR

 

During the Winter of 1968 (9th grade) I took a Ham class. As I have been known to do, more than once, I quit 2 weeks before the end of class. Everyone that finished the class made it to General. We were all around the same age. I don't think the material or test were necessarily harder, but you did have to study as opposed to memorizing questions. The code may also have been a deterrent to many back then.