[AMRadio] Membership

[Donald Chester]

Larry Thom  W5LHT wrote:
> This forum
> represents what Ham Radio should be; Educated operators pursuing their
> hobby through building and experimenting. So much of that had been lost! I
> have nothing against modern technology such as computers and the like, but
> I’m partial to the RF side of Radio and so much of that has been lost today.   I
> haven’t been on the air in quite some time with my personal Equipment due
> to having lost my antenna farm in a Storm.  At age 72, I’m not sure if I will
> ever get back in operation

Considering the hoops we will now have to jump through to renew our tickets, whether for better or for worse I predict a precipitous plunge in the number of licensed hams in the FCC data base in the next few years unless something drastically changes. Of those who have maintained their ticket but have become inactive,  many will throw up their hands and say it's not worth the hassle when their expiration  date approaches and they see the 22-pages of instructions on how to renew.  Newer would-be hams who have passed a test at the VEC session but then see the procedure they have to follow next to actually get their ticket, will likely toss their paperwork in the trash and move on.

All this, just to enjoy the "privilege" of  submitting, once-per-decade, $35  to cover the fee now required for new licences and renewals.  Last time we had a licence fee, one simply filled in the Form 610 and mailed it along with a cheque made out to the US  Treasury, and that was it. Evidently someone thought that would be too simple and easy this time around.

While hams have been agonising over whether $50 or $35 every 10 years is too exorbitant a fee to pay, the silence from ARRL over this whole issue has been deafening, unlike during the years and months leading up to the Incentive Licensing debacle, when for months on end, this dominated the leading editorial in QST in nearly every issue.

The means to discuss and debate issues like this and possible upcoming threats to our privilege to operate AM on the ham bands, are just a couple of examples of why forums like this one are essential and  must  continue to exist.

Don k4kyv