Why are we so different?

I hadn't given it any thought up until last night. We are clearly a different breed of operators, but why are we still stereotyped?

Two days ago I was talking with someone in my family about our fantastic hobby. In the process of our discussion he stated "You guys are just snobby CB'ers." I was dumb founded and of course went on the defense of our hobby. Man I was on fire. I told him about attitude, passion, dedication, commitment and knowledge. Saving you from the entire discussion, suffice it to say that I convinced him that we are most certainly NOT to be classified in the same category as a CB'er.

Putting another notch on my belt and priding myself on the job I had done for our hobby, I still couldn't get over the anger that I was feeling regarding the comment. Here it is two days later and I'm still confused how we got this stereotype. Granted, looking in from the outside, I'm sure more think good of us than bad but the idea that anyone would think of us as being nothing but the perfect example of a fine service is frustrating.

In retrospect I suppose I am a bit biased and perhaps overly proud of what we are and that I shouldn't get so worked up over the whole deal.

During the recent release of Frequency we were portrayed as time traveling chatters (hi hi) but in general portrayed us as good people. This was a good start I think and I recall hearing a lot of talk about promoting our hobby during the release period. This was a good example of hams working the P.R. circuit and promoting us in a good light.

What can we do as a collective whole to promote and change our image? I don't have the answer but would enjoy hearing of some ideas. In the meantime I am going to be ready to jump on the next person that calls us a 'Snobby CB'er'. I'll set them straight in a hurry and I hope you will do the same.

Power to the HAM!

 

I think ur overreacting a bit.  Once I was having a QSO with a ham in Florida. He was an older guy living in a condo.  He said that his neighbors were terrorized by his wire antenna, having no knowledge of what an antenna is about.  He said "most people are smart enough to cook a meal and that's about it."

 

Hello N6GOF,
Not knowing more about your conversation, it is hard to say if you convinced or just over-powered your relative.
It also seems, from your post that your relative used his/her reference to CB as a put-down of ham radio. Some-times, it helps to find out what a persons objections to ham radio are, before trying to convince them of ham radio's merits. It may be that your relative had some bad experiences with ham radio operators, that you did not address in your response to his/her ham radio put-down.
Or maybe the media which some-times confuses CB with ham radio, may have confused your relative. In any case, I hope your relative was convinced, and that you now realize that ham radio operators have to do more to promote our hobby (service).
73
AD6LR

 

One thing to keep in mind. CB radio was much more visible years ago then was amateur radio. In fat, many of today's ops were former (or still are) CBers.

Once 2 meter FM mobile became the rage in the late 70's and into the early 80's, that further influenced the public to think we were "all the same". Afterall, that big antenna down the street is that "cber's". IN fat many CB antennas (beams) are very much like the amateur antennas (quads, etc.).

It is a perception problem. Amateur radio isn't well defined with the public and as such, we are categorically called CBers. I don't take offense, but I do tend to correct them and tell them the difference.

No 10-4 stuff here !

 

I know of many cbers and clubs that exist which are every bit as service oriented as some hams are,remember they are much more restricted in what they can bring to the table than what  amateurs can by virtue of the respective parameters they must adhere to.  
         I have been a ham for 22 years and I freely admit that my service to my fellow man via Ham radio has been nil , and most assuredly over shadowed by many cbers.....
          Are there differences ? absolutely !  But lets be careful not to generalize,

 

It's a casual misunderstanding by someone uneducated in the field of either form of radio. The friction between the two comes into play when one person, who feels they have accomplished a goal in life by becoming a "Ham" is met head on by someone who, feeling they have some right to just have things handed to them, comes along and whines constantly about how oppressive Amateur radio is and how "stuck-up" the people who want to follow a few basic rules can be.

But in your case, it's just a simple misunderstanding from someone outside the spectrum. I was sitting at a local coffeeshop with my son and we were participating in a roundtable on 2 meters. Lady down the counter looked at her own son and said, "See how much fun CB can be?"

I said, "Oh, this isn't CB. We are members of the local Amateur Radio Emergency team and provide communication during disasters like Hurricanes and terrorist actions. In fact I can help you and your son get involved in helping the community in time of need through Amateur Radio if you'd like."

"No thanks." She said, and handed her son his GameBoy to shut him up while she phoned her girlfriend on her cell phone to find out what happened when her husband....



73, Jim - kc2jca

 

Well, I hate being called cb'ers, but hey, oh well. You know people are too arrogant.........we can go on with what I just said, but this is g stuff and also only about amateur radio. But when they find out were the ones that help keep them from ending up in a supercell thunder storm, they will understand

73.........Dr. Love/KD5PDA watauga tx

 

To the average non ham, Amateur radio is no different than CB.  This stereotype is easily formed especially with movie and television depiction of all radio services.  Face it, anything with an antenna and a microphone can communicate on the fourty channels of a CB.  Just watch the movies and television.  

Are we a bunch of snobs?  I have to admit I have met a number of very friendly hams as well as a number of snobs.  Ever had a repeater control operator either shut down the repeater while you were using it or ask you to leave because it was a closed system?  How about the debate of low (or no) code VS 20 WPM?  Or think about the low bands during a contest?

While on vacation I called into a repeater to get local information.  There was a "rag chew" session going on between two locals and I dropped my call sign in a break in the QSO.  One of the two then repeated my call sign (proving I made the repeater) and asked his buddy if he recognized the call.  His buddy said he did not (big surprise, I'd never talked to either of them) and they continued on with their chat.  That might not seem so bad except this same type of thing has happened numerous times to me.  And based on the Q and A section of this board, many new hams have had the same thing happen to them.

If I had to choose one way or another, I'd have to lean towards your relative's side.  Is Amateur radio CB?  As far as the masses are concerned, yes.  Are we High And Mighty, some bad apples make it appear that way.  Should we be upset about it?  No, we should correct the problems, stop infighting, and actually PROMOTE good will.

 

at one time 13,000,000 cb-ers .5 million hams world wide hams , ratio of bad hams was greater, cb still gives day to day help more than hams, hams if they help, may call for help, cb operators go help when needed, on the road even some truckers will offer help they aren`t all bad .I had cb radio in 1960 was often first on scene of accidents in my area many have taken training in first aid and search and rescue volunter fire dept etc. there are bad apples on both, many hams never were cbers and aren`t good enought to make one, listen to 80m 20m mostly, listen to 2 letter calls contesting on 28.00000 using voice in US when told they say they aren`t out of band as a novice in portland Darell of Hood View club taught us stay from band edge 1.5 kc min. I travel from west coast to east on I-90 down to south Georgia scross south to Bakersfield up I-5 to British Columbia. It is hard to get a repeater with no tones a lot of places and when ARRL repeater guide lists a lot of mountain top sites what town is that ? I would not travel with out cb radio society class cb (2m) just don`t cut it other bands of little use for help . I was in Florida after Andrew emergency ham? some hand helds if you were lucky , all towers were down a lot was learned there .I have heard several hams complain their pic not in paper for helping , most cbers just like to feel good for helping ,want to know about attitude ?? try explaining good points in both systems . It took 25 years to pass cw, I still use cb I must be a bad ham ? 73 to all see you on I-link Larry

 

hummm, snobs? well, if "snobby" means "worked hard to take examinations, and work hard to follow the rules", well, just sign me "SNOB"

 

Eric, I don't know what difference it makes. It's real easy to preach to the choir. I think there is a lot of arrogance in our hobby, but in the same breath, I will agree that it is the finest hobby known to man. I can only think of one thing more fun to do, and I sure as heck can't talk about that here!
     I've said this before, and I will say it again, we are either part of the problem or we are part of the solution. I can't do a thing about some smug idiot who acts like he is God's gift to Radio. I can make sure I am the best Ambassador I can be for Amateur Radio. There are idiots EVERYWHERE, Eric, and some of them have Ham tickets. Generally speaking, Hams are intelligent, well-read, curious people who sometimes take themselves a little too seriously. I am reminded of the old saying about how we should "be serious, but not take ourselves too seriously".  There are a lot of people out there who take themselves WAY too seriously.  What we can do is educate the unknowing and unaware in a gentle fashion, so that they see the positive side of Amateur Radio.  We can hope that those who would not be good examples for the non-Ham public will be as far behind the scenes as possible, but that isn't always the case.  That being said, people like you and me, and some of the other who have posted on this very interesting thread, should do what we can do to make sure we represent Amateur Radio in the very best light we can, and that includes our on-air behaviour.  Sometimes I think we do forget that people are listening.  We're gonna have to settle for making haste slowly, because that is the only way it's gonna happen. Over time.

 

The bottom line? More effort needs to be spent on promoting amateur radio to the public. The ARRL for example, should be funding professionally made public service announcements explaining amateur radio, and in particular its role in disaster communications. Yep, it won't be cheap but it's time to bring this great avocation out of "stealth" mode!

Out of the following, which ones are the general public familiar with:

The Red Cross, the United Way, the American Heart Association, The ARRL. Get it?

 

 This sounds so familiar!  I'm new to Ham but this sterotyping is everywhere.  I drive a car with a loud dual exhaust so I must be a street racer even though you wouldn't see me spinning my wheels anywhere but the track.  I work in the computer industry so I must be a geek/nerd.  

People choose to be ignorant.
It's every where, can't let it get to ya though.

Sometimes it's even entertaining

 

When somebody ignorant and closed minded complains about the size of my antennas, or anything else about my activities, and calls it a "cb antenna", or calls me a "CBer", I do nothing to correct them.

However, for those who are truly curious,  my collection of QSL cards from all over the world, military and commercial radios, boatanchors, etc. demonstrates that we are very different from CBers.

 

I have a feeling that when we go to meet our maker he’s not going to be asking what our call sign is or how many wpm we know or what kind of rig we have.  After wanting to become a ham for almost 50 years I finally have, but only for two reasons: 1)to prove to myself that I could and 2)to fulfill a lifelong dream before ham radio goes away and I no longer have the chance.

So far, (six days) I’ve met some really nice people that make me feel like I did the right thing and I’ve met some real snobs that could spoil the whole experience for me if I allow them to.

I haven’t paid attention to any of this before but what I have heard so far sounds like a lot of snobbery to me. So maybe as a ex-CBer I will go from being nothing to extra class in less that 60 days just to prove it isn’t all that hard and is nothing all that special.

After 911 I would have thought that most of us would have learned what we should have learned in Sunday school or in kindergarten the most important thing that we can learn in life is how we can all get along together.

So now I have to ask myself if I really feel that way why do I think I sound like I'm trying to pick a fight?

The devil made me do it!