[AMRadio] In Defense Of The ARRL

[Donald Chester]

>Why not good ol' American
>made Ten Tec gear throughout?

Better still, why not expertly designed, custom built homebrew rigs designed 
pecisely for the application at W1AW?  I'm sure the League has the funds and 
technical expertise available.

>I've had ARRL people tell me that it's no longer
>important that hams understand how a radio works or its major components 
>because "no
>one but an engineer could fix it if it broke anyhow".

If that is true, isn't it a frank admission that "Incentive Licensing" has 
been a dismal failure in terms of its stated purpose and goal?  Why continue 
to support licence class subbands that result inefficient use of our HF 
allocations, if the fundamental objective of Incentive Licensing has been 
abandoned?

>I know extra class licensees who can't
>even program their HTs.  Is this *really* what we want for the future of 
>ham radio? Is this
>approach of selecting what will likely bring in the most users or new 
>licensees really a good
>idea? Obviously not if the ARRL has been "saving ham radio" for the last 
>10+ years and
>it's gotten worse to the point of having to lessen requirements with the 
>dumbing down
>approach...
>Personally it irks me a bit that the ARRL did it their way and failed
>repeatedly, but since everything else has been tried *now* they're willing 
>to try to some
>attention to basic radio issues and history.

Nothing has worked.  Remember Novice Enhancement?  Then the no-code Tech?  
Volunteer exams?  Now 5 wpm code and "restructuring"?   Despite this series 
of measures that have progressively  relaxed the standards, the anticipated  
hoards of newcamers to amateur radio never materialised.  A substantial 
number of existing Technicians and Generals have upgraded, but the total 
amateur radio population is still dwindling.  Bottom line:  appliance 
operating is BORING!

>One of the primary reasons for the amateur radio "service" is to provide a 
>source of trained radio operators to help out in >times of local and 
>national emergency. This seems to have gotten lost long ago in the rush to 
>promote amateur radio
>as a hobby.

Amateur radio came through in the aftermath of the events of 11 Sept 01 in 
NYC.  Cellular, landline and broadcast communication services crashed with 
the loss of the towers and  traffic overload.  The public became aware that 
the non-centralised structure of amateur radio renders it to be the ultimate 
source of cricitical communication in a time of emergency, after everything 
else has failed.  Historians may look back on this national tragedy as the 
event that saved amateur radio.

>As far as the railroads go, they were still in operation last I knew. Maybe 
>cheaper trucks
>and gasoline had something to do with a more convenient and economical way 
>of
>shipping?

Don't forget the heavy government subsidy of the trucking industry.  State 
and federal governments build and maintain  the highway system, and although 
the trucking industry pays substantial  taxes to use the interstates, the 
tax rate does not fully cover the costs of road damage and  traffic 
congestion, not to mention the loss of life and property due to 18-wheeler 
accidents.  The railway industry had to purchase its own right-of-way and  
build and maintain its own tracks with minimal government assistance.

Regarding the League's newfound willingness to embrace AM and classic radio, 
the current enthusiasm for AM and other ham radio fundamentals is about the 
only visible enthusiasm  that is left in the service/ hobby these days.  You 
have to give the League credit for responding to reality.  Even if we 
disagree with many of the League's policies, would it really be in our best 
interest to abolish it?  Why not abolish our national and local governments 
since we may disagree with pubicl policies? Why not scrap our cars and and 
abandon our highway system nation-wide because it  directly causes the 
deaths of over 40,000 Americans annually?

Don, K4KYV

PS:  Why should our military be asked to die for cheap oil when the rest of 
us aren't even being asked to get better mileage?

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