Ham Radio is "faintly embarrasing?"

It's collection of old time magazines that makes one an über geek! Especially if you paid for them!

 

Hansl:

First of all, I hope the guys at r.r.a.p haven't missed me.  I do miss them, in most cases.  I don't know if or when I'll actually make a return appearance there, but it finally dawned on me that I've already been proven right enough dozens of times to stop beating everyone over the head with my horrifyingly accurate predictions of the dismal future of the ARS.

The comparison to Len Anderson was a bit much, but in the spirit of the holiday season, I'll ignore it.  

I haven't checked out the story from India yet; will do so soon.  Pretty busy taking advantage of the nice WX here in Delaware.  I hope you and your family have a very Happy and Prosperous New Year in 2005!  This goes for everyone reading this post!  

73 de Larry, K3LT
Dover, DE

 

Hans:

I finally checked out the article. OM Gopal, VU2GXM, is doing a good job on Tsunami Emergency Comms. Sorry to hear about the bureaucratic snafus with which he must contend. Unfortunatly, that only points to the fact that ham radio is not nearly as "mainstream" as we would like it to be; otherwise, there would be more ready acceptance by government bureaucrats. The fact that this is apparently a global problem for hams is not at all encouraging.

73 de Larry, K3LT

 

Ah, K5KTD, the amateur radio service is a service ... a service that is provided to licensees to operate within the bands and legal regulations provided by that service per the government agency that allows it to be such depending upon what country a licensed operater is under the jurisdiction of -- here, in the United States it is an organization you may, or may not, be familiar with depending upon your intellect or lack there of called the Federal Communications Commission.

In short, Kelly, the amateur radio service is a service that is provided to us, licensed amateur operators, not a service that we, as hams, provide to others.

Please keep in mind that we are not professionals, hence the appearance of the term "amateur" in the description and, thus, are not required to provide any "service" at all.

Any services that an amateur radio operator provides to anyone else is above and beyond the FCC license requirements and cannot receive monetary compensation for such services, if any, provided.

In short, amateur radio IS a HOBBY!

Chuck, AA1MN

 

YUP!

 

I am not sure what you guys are talking about but I
would like to know more about it.

Please send me an email "ke5cty at qsl.net"
with more about this and with a link to jerks' article.

Just from what little I have read here
after being a Ham for over 30 years
I would like to do battle with this.

BTW if you want to read
a blog that supports Ham Radio read me:
My Ham Radio Blog Site

TNX and 7&3,
BOB
KE5CTY
http://www.qsl.net/ke5cty

 

I encourage everyone to reply to the article. Here's mine:


===BEGINNING OF EXCERT SENT TO TIME===


As an licensed Amateur Radio operator, I found the
passage by Mr. Grossman mentioning Ham Radio as
'faintly embarrassing' offensive. Apparently, Mr.
Grossman knows little or nothing about my avocation or
the technical knowledge that one must possess to pass
an Amateur Radio exam. He apparently doesn't know the
many fulfilling facets of the hobby, nor of it's long
history of producing people with technical expertise.
Nor does he seem to realize the many Amateurs who
voluteer their help and abilities in the many man-made
and natural disasters that have happened over the
years. Hopefully, Mr. Grossman will be better
informed in the future before making grand gestures
based on ignorance.

Sincerely,
John Fontaine
N2NH

===Quote===
Power Line Named Blog of the Year: TIME also names
Power Line its Blog of the Year. “Before this year,
blogs were a curiosity, a cult phenomenon, a faintly
embarrassing hobby on the order of ham radio and stamp
collecting. But in 2004, blogs unexpectedly vaulted
into the pantheon of major media, alongside TV, radio
and, yes, magazines, and it was Power Line, more than
any other blog, that got them there,” writes TIME’s
Lev Grossman. See separate press release.

===END QUOTE===
===END OF EXCERPT===

I am a HAM and proud that I am.

73 and happy DXing in '05

JOHN
N2NH

 

SOUNDS LIKE YOU GUYS ARE TRYING TO CONVINCE YOURSELVES OF YOUR OWN SELF WORTH. If you and your vocations are good people will know you don't have to convince them. Treat Gross-Man with the same respect you do a troublemaker on the air, ignore him, newsweek is a better mag. anyway. Happy New Year, I'm not embarassed why would anyone else feel that way? Even Dan Rather made a big mistake. hahahahaha.

 

Time magazine is not worth my time (no pun intended) ever since they came out a few years ago and told its readers that they would not only be reporting the news, but they would be interpreting the news for its readers as well. That is, they would tell us what we should think about what they reported. The enlightened were going to inform the ignorant.

No thanks. What an insult. haven't picked an issue up since.

The reporter probably spends his off time ehancing his culture by listening to P. Diddy and Snoop Dog.

73,
Frank, W7ND

 

<span style='color:teal'>Sorry, my feeling is that sticking your head in the ground will only get your tailfeathers shot off. Ignore an idiot and he/she only gets the feeling that they are right - and that they have a right to loudly proclaim their ignorance. Especially since nobody seems to notice. Whether or not Time is a good mag is irrelevant. They do not have the right to ignorantly denigrate anybody, whether or not they feel it falls into one of the "correctness" categories. They still have to maintain their journalistic "integrity", something that, in cases like this, falters only when the public is aware. The public will not be aware unless attention is brought to this.

I think that it would be good for more Hams to respond to this obvious smear on us. This is an excellent forum and it's good to talk about this here, but real action means more.

Make your voice heard.</span>
e-mail: letters@time.com

73 and happy DXing in '05

 

Just remember the one that's doing the shooting better be justified, whether someone is hiding or not. Sometimes the less said the better. And in the case someone that does'nt what they are talking about as I said before look what happened to Dan Rather. You are not giving amateur radio enough credit and some stupid journalist too much credit and ham radio will suffer because the sqeaky wheel will get the grease. Let the bastard and Time mag. hang themselves, don't be the station to Make our hobby embarrassing.. I don't know maybe you guys are missing the point. What would the police or firemen say if their hobbies were casually attacted. Yeah firemen wear those funny hats that are to say the least mildly embarrassing, now you might say that has nothing to do with ham radio but firemen have ham radio too and Grossman doesn't know the difference between ham radio and C.B. If he's talking about ham and meaning cb well there you all go. No one has to defend ham radio from comments that are meant for other radio services, or we would be defending ourselves because Howard Stern talks on the radio doesn't he? You radio folks are the most filthy mouthed dweebs this community has ever heard and I'm telling mom. Radio is radio to a LOT of people that have no idea. never mind I think I should just give this up, I'm not sure anyone here knows what I mean you all might be too intellegent for your own good, which does happen, I'm just a biker w/a ham radio but I know how some of those idiots think. (not necissarily takes one to know one either) , just a different point of view you're looking at it from the inside and definately prejudiced. 73

 

The mailbox at Time is no longer accepting emails so I could not send my letter.

Dear Editor of Time,

The following quote came from your online Press Releases on December 19, 2004. http://www.time.com/time/press_releases/article/0,8599,1009842,00.html


<<<<Power Line Named Blog of the Year: TIME also names Power Line its Blog of the Year. “Before this year, blogs were a curiosity, a cult phenomenon, a faintly embarrassing hobby on the order of ham radio and stamp collecting. But in 2004, blogs unexpectedly vaulted into the pantheon of major media, alongside TV, radio and, yes, magazines, and it was Power Line, more than any other blog, that got them there,” writes TIME’s Lev Grossman. See separate press release. >>>

I am a little more upset than embarrassed. I am an amateur radio operator that helps people during disasters. An amature radio operator license is a privilege grated by the Federal Communications Commission that takes hours of study to pass very difficult tests

I am also a 4th generation stamp collector and am proud to own collections started by my great grandfather. Stamp collecting gives a lot to understanding US history. I teach my children to research WHY a stamp was granted commemorative status.

I do think your writer should issue a public apology to the country for this statement. I was greatly offended.

Mark Case, Sr.
KI4IDI FCC Station ID
4th generation stamp collector

 

The more we re-act, rather than act, the greater the erosion of our credibility with the public.

This silly letter writing campaign is another example of the small but vocal --actitivist-- component in ham radio: which didn't exist when I was a young ham, a time of turbulent criticism by young people.

All that I have seen so far has been dominated by emotion or irrationality. The antisemitism (in another post) wins extra points  for a turn-off for sheer, disgusting, hate. Such people need counseling. Go now.

Some of our colleagues are working 24 hours a day to deal with the WAVE: the  worst international  calamity of modern times. That is 'acting' rather than 're-acting'. That is ham radio in its finest hour.

I interpreted Lev's comment to mean that ham radio is viewed as passe. And to the public, it is: amateur 'radio' has been replaced by amateur 'wireless'--that's WiFi.

The fact that some can't deal with th obvious only shows how much we, as a group, are out of touch.

73,
Chip N1IR

 

No, some of us do NOT like it that way.

I suppose your post will now have the public thinking ham radio operators have a fetish for smelling flatulence...

Or what exactly was your point? If it is :'there used to be lots of active hams', then I don't see how a flatulence reference distinguishes that remark.

It only makes us look foolish, IMO.

Chip N1IR

 

I don't think my post will be read, because there are SOOO many here. I'm a "younger" HAM at 28. When I'm meeting single women, amateur radio is never mentioned. If I want to tell them what I do, I say "I volunteer at the Emergency Operations Center". If they want to know specifics "I help out with radio communications". If they're still interested, then I'll mention amateur radio. I take care to mention I am only interested in the "emergency communications" portion.

I'm not embarrassed, but I can't change public perception, so I have to make sure that people see that I like to volunteer and help, not a public perception of sitting in a radio shack just trying to get QSL cards. I know that DX'ing and the contests requires skill, and can be fun. Unfortunately, I can't explain that to single women before they run off in the other direction. If there were more mainstream POSITIVE coverage of amateur radio operators in times of need, perhaps I wouldn't have this problem.