Certainly, there was a quite strong Fascist movement in France, as in many other European countries. In 1937 the Cagoule group planned to overthrow the Blum government and install a Fascist junta, modelled after Mussolinis overthrow of the Italian goverment in 1922, but misjudged the support of the Armed Forces. My narrative was simply built on studies and extrapolation of what was presented at the 1938 Cairo ITU conference, taking the predicted habits of the various countries into account. It appears that only the English-speaking countries and their allies recognised the utility of radio amateurs in their Armed Forces and in radio industry. Axis powers did not utilise their radio amateurs very much in supporting roles. It took long before they realised that the Allies used amateur skills to their advantage, despite letting a few German amateurs operate almost through the war, and keeping the national society DASD functional. When it finally dawned on the German leadership that radio amateurs had contributed to the Allied cause, it was already Autumn 1944, and too late to change the direction. The president of the DASD Obergruppenführer-SS dr Ernst Sachs wrote a now famous letter to his "boss" Reichsführer-SS Heinrich Himmler where he outlined the reasons behind the Allied success. https://www.cdvandt.org/Sachs-brief original.pdf Instead German amateurs were drafted and sent to the Eastern Front and many never came back. Ernst Sachs had been a higher-management person in the Department of the Interior and the Reichspost radio department, and was one of the attendees of the Cairo conference. He succeeded the retired Admiral Heinrich Gebhardt as president of the DASD in 1940 by appointment of Minister of Propaganda, dr Goebbels. Amateur radio was considered as one of the propaganda tools for the regime. How a German radio amateur could look in 1930. Finally, something about the real utility of radio amateurs in crisis situation. Some time ago, I was pointed at a Youtube channel by a Swedish radio amateur that also is active in the Home Guard communications as an instructor. He states that today's radio amateurs usually are quite good at making contact and exchange signal reports, but fail miserably when they actually are required to get a third-party message through. This is in line with my own observations, and can be attributed to lack of training and routine. Message handling requires discipline, accuracy and a "flair" for team-work. Many amateurs are "loners", cannot follow instructions or orders and like to hear the sound of their own voices, none of which are the marks of good message handlers. 73/ Karl-Arne SM0AOM
Ha! Indeed, it is impossible to compare the level of the one who spits on the HT and the one who receive thousands of numbers a day without the right to make a mistake)
This has always been true. However, necessity is the mother of skills. In todays world there is very little need for hams to be experienced in message handling. shrug.
As in the age old story that ended with 'Bring three and four pence, we're going to a dance.' Can we lighten things up please?
This article by another historian reiterates some of the previous comments about German amateurs during WWII, but adds a social perspective. Nazis pressed ham radio hobbyists to serve the Third Reich – but surviving came at a price Clearly, if the onus of "what have you done for me lately" and "the greater good" are to be the only criteria strictly applied, politically the future of Amateur Radio (and other things) is in dire jeopardy. But the article also underscores the case that for many being a radio amateur under such oppressively regimented conditions was not attractive nor acceptable for other than technical reasons. Which leads to also imagining a movement building upon lesser technical and more cultural reasons as the basis for why and how Amateur Radio is to be conserved, as are all those many other anachronistic endeavors presented earlier, such as pleasure boating, recreational aviation, national parks, etc. WWII was fought and won not just by many radio amateurs, but FOR the individual freedoms that enable it. That memory may be fading under new pressures, but the spirit is indomitable.
This is a great discussion, it is really interesting to read licensing informations from VK land and how things work, I'm learning a lot. Now: SM0 AOM SAID: A major difference between amateur radio and other anachronisms is that unlike steam trains, sailboats or rod fishing it actively competes for a fundamentally limited natural resource which also has an immense commercial value. It needs an extremely good justification for its continued existence, and frankly, I am unable to formulate such a justification. In order to justify continued spectrum privileges, it needs to be shown beyond doubt that amateur radio does offer something that other competitors for spectrum do not provide. Well, what we can read on the web, and see on you tube, is the great popularity of the following items here, it is easy to justify. 1- EMCOMM = Emergency Communications, 2- SKYWARN ( USA ) CANWARN ( CANADA) 3- Emergency preparedness 4- Survival Radio And along with this, the climbing popularity of small transceivers (ALL QRP, ALL MODE) , Batteries which are more performing, (LiFePo4), than ever, less weight, with small solar power. On the air we hear more and more activities to test their equipment portable . Those activities are fun and looks like mini field day, Think about IOTA (Island on the Air), SOTA (Summit on the air) POTA (Park on the air), and mini contest, etc. It is really much better than cell phone, tablets, or laptop. Think about it: If everything else fail... HAM RADIO.- You certainly read that somewhere, don't you ? I'm sure, just this, can attract newcomers of all ages, RV'ers, etc, to the hobby with this more attractive way. With the climate change, which are real all over the world, there it is great opportunity!! Think about it, all is not lost. 72/73 Mike VE2TH The QRP'er for 58 years.-
I have, and it is demonstrably false, at least in first-world countries. When we end up having a situation where "everything else has failed",amateur radio has failed long before. The EMCOMM crowd still live in the 1947 or Cold War version of amateur radio, which had helped to win WW2 for the Allied cause, and tend to forget that the world has moved on. Public safety agencies nowadays operate their own hardened and resilient networks which have superior performance to anything amateur radio can provide, simply because of the level of ambition and the resources put into their implementations. Amateur radio could contribute in the 1950s and 60s when communications doctrines of such agencies and the military were quite similar to amateur operations and also amateurs generally were younger and better trained. The public safety officials of today demand functionality and performance that amateur radio has very difficult to deliver. I know this because I have been in a position to compare; first having Army Signals background from the 70s, then working with project management within Government contingency communications in the 80s and finally as a designer of resilient infrastructure in the 00s and 2010s. Demands on communications infrastructure and functionality have changed dramatically just during the past 10 years, and the procedures used in "yesteryear" are simply not enough for fulfilling the needs of today. Amateur radio may fulfil certain roles as a "living museum" but cannot live up to the provision of high-bandwidth and low-latency error-free tactical communications which are firm "first-world" requirements today. I do not consider VE-land to be a "third-world country", but its southern neighbour has at least been on its way to become one... 73/ Karl-Arne SM0AOM
RAs are so candidly romantic. Tolerated as such, for quite half a century. Will they realize they were actually expendable as (our!) bands irrevocably shrink, one after the other? Oliver
Absolutely agree. Unless we're talking about countries where the quantity equals zero. I mean countries topping this list. Otherwise quality is better than quantity just as you have said.
There are three classes of licenses in my country. First (higher and code requiring) allows only 200W; medium second and beginner's third (both no-code) allow 100W and 40W respectively. VHF and up only 5W. I had to get special permission for 1kW on HF valid only for major tests (not daily) and apart permission for 100W on VHF and up for EME; these permissions were issued for only one year, were not automatically renewed, and seem not available anymore. People of my country infected with radiophobia. Even RX-only SAT dished irradiate them with harmful rays. In Australia, have you got the same problem? There is a professional anecdote: Chief of cellphone's customer support talking to engineers. - Hey, that new antenna on the block you've installed two weeks earlier is really bad. We've got tons of complaints. People appeal for headache, malaise and weakness, sleeping problems and so on. - Hmmm really bad. We can't imagine what will happen when we finish installation on the site, connect that antenna to the transceiver, and finally turn it on. So I'm just saying Australia definitively not the worst place on the Earth for the hobby.
Based on my QSO to all the world at 100W on simple wire antennas, I strongly doubt that I need more power. I would prefer a better antenna.
I really want to disagree but I can't. You're just right. In fact all that preppers, emcommers, and so on are hobbyists close to our hobby. Moreover in countries where state/government communications are poor and may easily fall due a catastrophe hamradio communications are probably as poor. Hamradio saved lives and will probably do it in foreseen future but its role as emergency communications is obviously declined to the noise floor where impossible to distinguish intention help from trained volunteers and just (un)lucky case. We only may expect to loose most VHF and up spectrum in favor of cell/satphone operators. BTW, does civil aviation really need our 2m band?
This is not poor propagation - this is lack of power. © You worked the world or the world worked you? That it the question QRP'sts dislike to answer. So I'd say more polite 'was able to make a contact'. And I'd like to ask everyone I contacted for forgiveness for my weak signal: most of my contacts were made with QRP (100W from a transceiver) and simple antennas so I literally forced other party operators to involve all their skills to copy me beneath the noise instead of getting 59(9)+ both sides. Actually yes even today it is quite possible to make contacts worldwide with bare transceiver and simple antennas. Even SSB. With better propagation even easier. The amp is not panacea but one of accessories that in some cases make difference. Some of those (relatively rare) cases are pretty important especially for DX'rs, contestmen, and so on that already have good antennas. 100W versus 1k6W is two S-units. Sometimes the difference is huge (almost clear copy vs no copy at all), sometimes difference is barely noticeable. Does an amp rule? Sometimes yes.
Even 10kW will not allow me to hear another station, even if it hears me. Therefore, high power does not make sense if there is no balance between reception and transmission. I often hear loud stations that do not hear me. Let me guess - the source of their loud signal is a good antenna or amplifier? And if a weak station from America or Asia answers me at 100W, then why do I need more power? P.S. QRP is 5W CW or 10W voice mode.
It is somewhat depending on what you mean by "need", but the primary reasons are that the aviation community is looking for more global spectrum for especially UAV control purposes. Currently, exclusive aeronautical mobile spectrum ends at 137 MHz in all ITU regions, and this is the upper limit for globally coordinated AM(R) allocations, and the allocations are primarily intended for manned commercial aviation. Access to another 2 MHz of globally coordinated spectrum would benefit those users tremendously, as aviation is a truly global venture. In ITU Region 1, there is more aviation spectrum between 137 and 144 MHz, but only there. All first-world regulators nowadays look closely of the actual "benefit to society" from all spectrum users. Amateur radio is no exception, but we have largely flown under the radar up to now, much due to a "glorious past". When every kHz is valued in money, it becomes very difficult to demand access as a free-loader. There is a quite interesting example from a recent court ruling. Long ago, the Swedish regulator made amateur radio "play at the same rules" as WiFi and other users of the 2300 MHz band, only allowing 100 mW of power. Use of higher power could be permitted with special permission which was quite seldom granted. About 2014, 2300-2400 MHz was lost to 5G, and the power level in the 2400-2450 MHz band was kept at 100 mW. When the QO-100 satellite was planned, a few amateurs wanted more power in order to use the satellite with simple gear and wanted the power limit to be raised. The regulator refused, citing that WiFi-services and similar have a very high value for the users, and they outnumber the radio amateur user group by perhaps 100000 to 1. The decision was appealed, and the court decided in support of the regulator, despite that ISM, which WiFi belongs to from a regulatory standpoint, is specifically exempted from interference protection in the ITU Radio Regulations. This shows very clearly that any status in the ITU Radio Regulations may be nullified on very short notice if national Administrations decide otherwise. 73/ Karl-Arne SM0AOM
