Letter to the ARRL... by W6LG - Jim Heath Youtube Elmer

I was going to look at the video weeks ago but the title and the image of the guy pointing his finger at the camera made me suspect it was a rant and I decided to do something else for a while. Then I forgot all about it - good thing.

 

Sounds political to me!

Now that we're keeping politics off of QRZ, so I don't have to watch the video or listen to the League's response. HI

That gives me more time to get on a Air and make contacts.

73 from "The K0UO Rhombic Antenna Farm"

 

10 meter E-skip has been very good for the past two days!

 

The way around "not invented here" syndrome is to lead a person to conclude something so they think they thought up the idea. It's a tactic used in "push polls", which is apparently effective. Because there are rules that make it more difficult to call people to advocate for a position there are people that will call under the guise of a poll. Polling people is still allowed, though still restricted. A "push poll" is less about getting information from people and more about giving information to them. The pollster will make some statement, either a fact or some opinion that is claimed to be a fact, and then ask what the person thinks of this. By asking leading questions the pollster is attempting to convince someone to take a certain position on the topic.

I'm reminded of a line from the show The West Wing which went something like, "It's amazing what you can do if you don't care who gets the credit." In this episode the people in the White House wanted something big done, and make sure the President got the credit since this was supposed to be his "legacy" from his time in office. At some point the people realized they'd likely get more people on board if the idea was not attached to the President. I don't recall what it was they wanted done. Say what you will about the politics of the show they did make some interesting observations on human behavior in nearly every episode.

 

This is a waste of time. Public drama is no way to try to change an organization. I am sure someone who claims such "stature" could have handled this within the organization. Right now the ARRL is all we have to represent us, whether we agree with its politics or not. Beating it down accomplishes nothing. People will view this who are on the cusp of joining the ARRL and say the hell with it.

 

Now, I respect Jim very much, perhaps this was a mis-step however the leader of your ARRL is some piece of work. That was very rude response.
In the U.K. Amateur Radio is a hobby however is do see it as a Service in the US do many Americans agree with that? Why is the ARRL downgrading it to a hobby?

 

What better way to turn people off than to twist ideas for change into one more church that forgets we are all human beings.

That is how I think when I read threads like this and see videos and arguments like in the OP's video. Ranting about stuff changes nothing, least of all the opinion of anyone sitting on the fence. In fact all it does is reinforce existing biases and divides us into us and them camps. There is a reason why younger hams are not interested in videos like this, or young people in general are not going to ever watch this guys videos. Its because the videos do not speak to young people, they speak to the old man brigade. Its about building a following and the allusion of power that brings, its not about building a broad community and bringing people along for the ride. That requires compromise not whatever nightmare those videos were.

 

Maybe this explanation will work for you. The amateur radio service is my hobby.

 

Be clear, do you view Amateur Radio as a Hobby or a Service?

 

It's perfectly clear to me. What part of the reply has you confused?

Try this from the regulations...
(4) Amateur service. A radiocommunication service for the purpose of self-training, intercommunication and technical investigations carried out by amateurs, that is, duly authorized persons interested in radio technique solely with a personal aim and without pecuniary interest.

Perhaps you would care to review the regulations and point out where the amateur radio service can not be one's hobby?

https://www.ecfr.gov/cgi-bin/text-i...&mc=true&node=pt47.5.97&rgn=div5#se47.5.97_11

 

Wow that pretty much says it there.
I always thought differently and viewed it differently. Time to adjust slightly for reality then.

My take on it is that we should still frame our role differently.
I made the argument elsewhere about making the commission think twice about taking spectrum from amateur radio because it's a vital service.

 

Ham radio does not provide a vital service, but like all hobbies, it does provide a lot of social good both to those who partake in the hobby and for society more generally. Some of those social goods are quite obvious and others not so much, but you can be assured governments understand that hobbies are good for people in many ways.

 

Ham radio is a hobby. As I have pointed out, pretty much all the FCC things under their umbrella use the "service" nomenclature.
https://www.fcc.gov/wireless/bureau-divisions/mobility-division/citizens-band-radio-service-cbrs
https://www.fcc.gov/wireless/bureau-divisions/mobility-division/family-radio-service-frs
https://www.fcc.gov/wireless/bureau-divisions/mobility-division/multi-use-radio-service-murs
https://www.fcc.gov/general-mobile-radio-service-gmrs
https://www.fcc.gov/wireless/bureau...ivision/local-multipoint-distribution-service
etc.

For some people they take ham radio to the art level, really more that a mere past time, but a challenge, and way to hone their craft, learn, build and develop, etc. I've noticed our European counterparts seem to be more in tune with this. I wish there were more people like that here in the USA.

Starlink pretty much eliminates the whole emcomm need in the hobby if you ask me. Emcomm has been dangling by a thread with the recent Firstnet deployment.
Its overdue to Stop beating the ARES drum, start beating the innovation and learning drum....

https://firstnet.gov/about
https://www.cnet.com/home/internet/starlink-satellite-internet-explained/

I think its time for some major re-writing of Part 97. Bruce Perens inked some really good thoughts in 2017, and at the most fundamental level our basis and purpose should be freshened up to ensure we are still relevant in terms of the spectrum we are granted access to.

Excerpts:

The Amateur Service, and its use of radio spectrum, must serve the public interest, and must continue to do so, for there to be a justification for Amateur Radio to exist. Thus, §97.1 specifies a basis and purpose of the Amateur Service which goes beyond the simple definition of Amateur Radio in §1.56 of the ITU Radio Regulations.

However, §97.1 has remained unchanged for at least 65 years, and the present version was published in the 1953 edition of the Code of Federal Regulations. The field of telecommunications has changed immensely during the past six decades, and thus there has been great change in the public-interest role of Amateur Radio. I believe it is thus necessary to re-define §97.1 to better justify the Amateur Service and its allocation of radio spectrum, within the context of society’s needs today rather than in 1953.

https://ecfsapi.fcc.gov/file/102617713456/Perens_ET_17_215.pdf

Read the whole thing. Its the kind of thing one would expect the League to compose and keep hammering on with the FCC.

 

There are grants from the ARDC if someone wanted to form a different organization to represent ham radio. And I am beginning to think this would be a good idea as I feel the League has been very out of tune over the years and overall lacks vision.

https://www.ampr.org/grantmaking-categories-requirements-goals/

 

I couldn't get them to do anything when I was a member, and communicated with them regularly. You nailed it on the head, their future is more important than that of the hobby. Its the typical corporate model.

Please see my other recent posts about freshening our Basis and Purpose to ensure we are justified on paper in terms of our access granted to the frequencies. Then read my other post about ARDC grants available to possibly start an alternative advocacy organization to represent ham radio.