Ham Talk Live! Episode 199 - State of the Hobby Survey

Don't forget that Amateurs were allocated spectrum that was thought to be useless for any other practical purpose back then, and so it makes sense to consider their activities as being nothing more than a hobby.

Things have changed A LOT over the past 90+ years....


73 de John, KD2BD

 

What things do we do in ham radio today that are not a hobby? If we do things because it interests us, we do it for enjoyment, and we don't expect a monetary gain, then we are participating in a hobby.

 

The stale, old argument that the word "Service" refers ONLY to the "Service" provided for us (as in National Weather "Service") is myopic, ill informed, and needs to be put to rest once and for all.

FCC Part 73 describes the Radio Broadcast Services. These Services benefit both the broadcasters (in terms of making money) as well as the public at-large (the public owns the air waves, and the broadcasters use this publicly owned resource to serve our needs).

There is no reason the same bilateral principle cannot apply to us as well... Because it DOES.

An Amateur grows personal insight into radio electronics through hands-on learning, and in so doing gains the ability to advance the state of the radio art and enhance international goodwill for the benefit of us all.

Just because there are websites, books, or organizations that describe the Amateur Radio Service as being a "hobby" doesn't make it true. There are organizations and websites that go to great lengths supporting the theory of a flat earth, too.

Sadly, we are living in an era where some of the loudest voices that reach the greatest audiences originate from individuals who are the least informed.

So, let's narrow the bandwidth and apply some common sense.

NASA and other aerospace companies do not launch not-for-profit communication satellites into Earth orbit for the purpose of supporting hobbies.

We are not allocated billions of dollars worth of radio spectrum for free simply to allow individuals with no social life a way to idle away their spare time.

PhDs are earned by individuals who develop communications hardware for Amateur Radio projects (Dr. Karl Meinzer, DJ4ZC, EER Amplifier) not by those who collect postage stamps, baseball cards, or potatoes that resemble U.S. Presidents.

The World Administrative Radio Conference of the International Telecommunications Union re-defined the amateur service in 1979 using language very similar to that of FCC Part 97.1:

"A radiocommunication service for the purpose of self-training, intercommunication and technical investigation carried out by amateurs, that is, by duly authorized persons interested in radio technique solely with a personal aim and without pecuniary interest."

No mention of hobby.

A world assembly of national governments, acting in concert in recognizing and acknowledging the significance and importance of the Amateur Radio Service to society would not do so if it were merely a "hobby". These people have much more important things to do than defend a "hobby".

And so do we.


73 de John, KD2BD

 

But ALL radio services are termed "services" because that is the terminology. GMRS, FRS, MURS, CBRS, etc, all have the name "service" in their title. They do not provide any "service", the service provided is from the FCC to the licensee, in the form of rules and regulations that fit the particular "service" goals.

I think the problem that some people have is they think a hobby is "bad" or somehow demeaning. This is not the case. A hobby is just a descriptor of something that a person does in his spare time, because he is interested in it, he derives enjoyment from it, and he doesn't expect to be paid for his involvement. That is it. Does ham radio fit the description? Do we do it because we are interested in radio? YES. Do we do it for enjoyment? YES. Do we expect to be paid for doing this activity? NO.

First, do you have any evidence that this is the case? Or is this just a supposition? A hobby can also support research and data collection.

Yet they do. Amateurs have always been allocated spectrum, since the first spectrum allocations were established. Obviously, more is expected of us that simply idling away our spare time, but the expectations are part of the hobby. Additionally, there is no rule that states that amateur radio cannot be used simply to idle away your time, or to avoid social interactions. Many hams do exactly that, and none of them have had their licenses revoked for treating ham radio as a hobby. If we were required to do some of these things, then you might have a point. But there is no requirement in the rules that ham radio be anything but a hobby.

Hobbies vary with the person. Amateur radio may appeal more to scientific types than stamp collecting would. But both are still hobbies, by definition, since a hobby is something you are interested in that brings you enjoyment, and you don't expect a monetary benefit.

"interested in radio technique solely with a personal aim and without pecuniary interest." This describes a hobby.

 

QUOTE K7JEM:

"I think the problem that some people have is they think a hobby is "bad" or somehow demeaning. "

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No one said this here. It is one of those 'how do you feel' speculations without merit.

It has NOTHING TO DO with whether the word 'hobby' connotes good OR bad.

It has everything to do with the legal perception of how the word 'HOBBY' in RADIO manifests.

Part 97 is not a 'hobby' service.

HOBBY=UNLICENSED.

 

Y'all need to go back to the early posts, where W0PV dug out a 1963 article in QST from an FCC guy , reminding us that Part 97 is not a HOBBY.

Shortly after that, the FCC proposed, and then implemented in 1967, INCENTIVE LICENSING, with their goal to move the SERVICE along, out of 'hobby' mode and into a 'pool of skilled operators' with practice in the technical art.

In other words, they gave us an 'incentive' to remember and implement the mission statement of Part 97. That mission statement, as the REST of Part 97, is devoid of the word 'HOBBY'. Those FCC actions were implemented to take us out of the false premise of Part 97 as a HOBBY.

They did this by taking away privileges and then reinstating those privileges with attainment of the EXTRA license. At the time, the EXTRA license was regarded as a high attainment of technical skill and knowledge, even more rigorous than commercial licences. The EXTRA had the perception of realization of that technical skill part of the Part 97 mission statement.

 

Yet it is a hobby service, so "hobby" does not equate to "unlicensed". Anyone who knows anything realizes what a hobby is, and that amateur radio fits the definition. Several regulators of spectrum use the word "hobby" right in the description of their amateur radio service. Do you think that ham radio is a hobby in the UK and Australia, but is "something else" in the USA? Even the FCC recognizes that it is a hobby, unless they are totally oblivious to the uses and historical references for over 100 years.

 

Yes. The ITU defines about 40 of them. There's a long list in this Wikipedia article: Radio communication service

And the FCC defaults to the ITU-R definitions (see Title 47, Part 2.1(b)) unless it's explicitely defined differently in the FCC regulation.

 

Do you have a copy of the 1963 article you referenced earlier in this thread? The one by Ivan H Loucks?

 

Yet even extra class licensees were part of the hobby. Gaining a license doesn't negate an activity as a hobby, it just means that you have a licensed hobby.

 

As I stated earlier, this tired, old argument needs to be put to rest.

FCC Part 73 describes the Radio Broadcast Services. These Services benefit both the broadcasters (in terms of making money) as well as the public at-large (the public owns the air waves, and the broadcasters use this publicly owned resource to serve our needs).

(Incidentally, a broadcast station's field strength contours define their SERVICE area, and broadcast stations must keep records to prove that they are SERVING the public interest.)

Does the FCC expect something in return? YES:

97.1 (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.
97.1 (b): Continuation and extension of the amateur's proven ability to contribute to the advancement of the radio art.
97.1 (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.
97.1 (d): Expansion of the existing reservoir within the amateur radio service of trained operators, technicians, and electronics experts.
97.1 (e): Continuation and extension of the amateur's unique ability to enhance international goodwill.

You can even call it a "banana" if you want. It doesn't matter because the defining documents that govern our spectrum use do not refer to the Amateur Radio Service of today as being a hobby.

Or a banana...

Or anything else.


73 de John, KD2BD

 

John is correct: K7JEM should call it the BANANA services, because K7JEM feels AOK when he uses words the way he wants, not the way they are used in federal/telecom legalese.




Let's make K7JEM head BANANA!

 

Who does the Family Radio Service serve? Who does the CB radio service serve? Who does the General Mobile Radio Service serve? These are all services in the FCC allocations, and they have their own reason for existence. But they don't offer any "service" other than to the user of that service.

Broadcasters must show that they are operating in the public interest, that they are serving the community of license. They keep a file for complaints and comments, and during their renewal process they advertise the fact that the general public can make comments either for or against their license renewal. We don't do anything like that in ARS, GMRS, CBRS, or any other service that is not there as a broadcaster.

Yes, absolutely! But none of these things preclude amateur radio from being a hobby. These are just things expected of us as we practice our hobby.

But other countries DO use the word "hobby" as part of the description of amateur radio. Our FCC uses language that indicates that it is a hobby, without using the actual word. But the FCC knows it's a hobby, and have always known this. On occasion, they will use the word in a public document, but it is pretty rare. But they have NEVER said "Amateur radio is not a hobby". NEVER.

 

But "banana" doesn't describe amateur radio in any way, shape, or form. "Hobby" actually does.

 

So apparently you consider the ITU-R to be authoritative? Good. So does the FCC (Title 47, Part 2.1(b))

Therefore if the ITU-R defines “service” as in “radiocommunications service”, of which “amateur radio service” is but one out of some 40+, then you would accept that definition ?

It happens that the ITU-R does define what they mean by “service”:

“A set of functions offered to a user by an organization”.

That's it. That's all that "service" means to the ITU-R. And since the FCC regulations state that they use the ITU-RR definitions, therefore that is what "service" means to the FCC, as well

So ... given that definition, here is what the term "amateur radio service" means:

User = amateurs
Organization offering the service = FCC
Set of functions = The regulations, license, and frequency allocations.

The “Amateur Radio Service” therefore is a “service” provided to us by the FCC.

Just like the other 39 or so other defined radiocommunications services are provided by the FCC to their respective users.


As I've posted before, at least once already in this thread, there is of course the capability of amateurs voluntarily providing public service at times, if they so choose to do so as part of the "... solely with a personal aim ... " that defines us (both by ITU and FCC). But that's not an individual mandate, and it's not simply because the term "amateur radio service" contains the word "service". Likewise, just because the word "service" in "amateur radio service" does NOT mean what you think it does, does NOT obviate the performance of "service" by us.

There are multiple definitions of the word "service" at play here, which is apparent to anyone who has taken the time to research it. There's "amateur radio service" that the FCC provides TO us via licensing and spectrum privileges, and there's the "public service" provided BY us, voluntarily, "solely with a personal aim", if we chose to.

We are not some sort of Communications National Guard or Radio Militia. If it's "solely with a personal aim" that means we're not being coerced by the government to perform "service".

For many of us, that "personal aim" is to engage as a hobby, because we enjoy it.