Just to sum it up here from the perspective of a former state legislator: "Pander to me baby, please. We have a mailing list in your district we can share, but no money like everyone else gives you for access and getting you to spend your political capital on our non-pecuniary cause. Perhaps you could solve that Citizen's United issue for us when you can spare time from speaking with 5G telco interest's lobbyists?" hihi
Amateur radio is a hobby. You shouldn't need recognition to enjoy your hobby(s). Maybe Congress should actually try to do something useful instead. I know I am asking for a lot but it used to happen when voters were more interested in what their representatives got done and less concerned with what partisan dog they were wagging to distract us.
Amateur Radio is more than a hobby. Amateur Radio is the very resource we have to save lives behind Fire and Police. With people trying to defund the police because of "Black Lives Matter," Amateur Radio is our next resource. If you do not like what Congress has been doing, send them a message because that is your civil duty as a citizen of America.
With all due respect, as chief of a fire department with 30+ years in fire and EMS I can't disagree more. There ARE hams who I would ask to help me and others (many of whom purchased HAM RADIO badges in the back of QST) who I would ask a sheriff's deputy to remove from my incident. Beyond providing backup communications in catastrophic situations where communications infrastructure is compromised AMATEUR radio has marginal value. IMO (I think I am still entitled to that despite the millennial attack on the 1st amendment) amateur radio is a hobby. I enjoy it and have for many years but it is a hobby. ARRL hopped on the EMCOM band wagon to attempt to justify amateur spectrum as numbers declined and the number of hams who are interested in technical aspects of the hobby diminished. I applaud your enthusiasm for our hobby. Enjoy it. Learn things. Recruit your friends.
Stated to the point... A HOBBY. And now sideways with hunting, hang gliding, survival, preppers, off road jeeping, racing, and want to be rescue squad. Might have missed a few. WA6VVC
I am the person who proposed the idea to Congresswoman Debbie Lesko & I am encouraging hams to put their preferred date at https://hamresponder.com/programs/long-distance-responders-day/preferred-date. After I get many submissions, I will present the closest date to Congresswoman Debbie Lesko and ask her to change the date.
@N7KCB While I appreciate your enthusiasm, drive, and interest in the service, I think that you've misjudged your audience. Here, we're mostly all old farts who have a wealth of experience in the real world. Something that we all gain as we age and mature. Ham radio's value over the years has not been because were all first responders. It has been because we were in place before an emergency, during the emergency, and after the emergency with antennas, radios, and backup power. This made us able to get on the air and report things back to another ham who was not in the danger zone. We have been doing this for many decades and did not have to be told to do it, we just do it. Having a national ham radio day is a feel good idea that the congress critters love simply because if they pass such a proposal it makes it look like they've actually done something that day. Then they can get back to business as usual, filling their own pockets on the collective backs of their constituency... Sorry kid, but that's reality and it is the pits. You have to ask yourself why anyone would want to be a politician. The government pay is really not that great, but they, as a group, all seem to be doing really well for themselves. You have to ask yourself how that can be possible... and then it hits you like a ton of bricks.
I've worked on Capitol Hill for more than a decade. At best, most Members of Congress will take note of this resolution for about 15 seconds when they see it on the weekly floor schedule or in a vote rec email from staff (in the unlikely event its not simply adopted by voice vote after a maximum 20 minutes of "debate"). Those 15 seconds that one day, however, are 15 more than they'll spend hearing from the ARRL in an entire 2 year session of Congress. Thank you @N7KCB for suggesting this idea to Rep. Lesko.
