[AReU] GREAT ARTICLE IN QST!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[Tony Stone]

For those of you that don't receive QST, the following article might prove
interesting.

73

Tony



ARRLWeb: "It Seems to Us . .

"It Seems to Us . . ." Nine Decades
By David Sumner, K1ZZ
ARRL Chief Executive Officer
January 1, 2004

Editor's note: Typically, only ARRL members get to read the "It Seems to Us
..."
editorials that run each month in QST. We're posting this editorial that
appears
in the January 2004 issue of QST in the hope that both ARRL members and
nonmembers might appreciate it and find it informative.

This year we celebrate the 90th anniversary of the founding of the ARRL. Few
other membership associations have survived for so long with their founders'
vision still intact. That the ARRL has done so is testimony to the quality
of
that original vision as well as to the dedication of subsequent generations
of
members.

To say that we have remained true to the vision of our founders is not to
say
that nothing has changed in nine decades. Hiram Percy Maxim and Clarence
Tuska
would marvel at what radio amateurs have built upon the foundation they laid
in
1914. The original impetus for the formation of a "radio relay league" was
the
difficulty that Mr. Maxim encountered in sending a message from Hartford to
Springfield, a radio path we now traverse without a second thought. From
those
beginnings, amateurs have gone on to conquer countless obstacles and
continue to
do so with a regularity that would gratify "The Old Man."

Every one of those nine decades has seen its share of challenges and
accomplishments.

The world went to war when the fledgling organization was just a few months
old.
In 1917 the United States entered the fray, amateurs were silenced (and
enlisted
in droves), and the ARRL suspended operations until early 1919. At that time
QST, until then a private venture of Mr. Tuska's, was purchased using bonds
sold
to ARRL members who had no guarantee of ever being allowed back on the air.
The
rise of broadcast listening in the early 1920s led to interference problems
that
to some spelled "the end of Amateur Radio as we know it." The League
celebrated
its 10th anniversary with the discovery that if they picked the right
"wavelength," amateurs could communicate worldwide.

The second decade, 1924-34, was surely a Golden Age for Amateur Radio. Using
vacuum tubes "borrowed" from the family broadcast receiver, amateurs could
and
did build globe-girdling transmitters that brought the achievement of
"Worked
All Continents" within anyone's grasp. But the amateurs' discovery of the
"short
waves" came at a price. While Amateur Radio enjoyed the support of the U.S.
government, commercial and government interests elsewhere pressed for
dramatic
reductions in our bands. New Year's Day 1929 saw the narrowing of the 160,
40
and 20 meter bands, forcing the ARRL to emphasize stability and selectivity
in
equipment designs.

Our third decade began in the depths of the Depression and ended in the
throes
of World War II. Amateur stations again went silent, but amateurs themselves
put
their skills and knowl��- edge into service to their country. Thanks to the
value of their contribution, this time there was no doubt that amateurs
would be
allowed back on the air as soon as possible after the war was won.
The ARRL remained in operation throughout World War II and provided
important
support to the war effort. Key QST advertisers such as Al Kahn, K4FW, then
of
Electro-Voice and still active today at age 97, helped keep the magazine in
circulation and the organization afloat. Thanks, Al! The postwar flood of
surplus equipment fueled a boom in operating activity, including VHF and
microwave experimentation based on wartime advances in technology. A license
restructuring controversy gave birth to the Novice and Technician licenses
in
1951, at a time when television interference (TVI) was becoming the latest
"end
of Amateur Radio as we know it."

Decade #5, 1954-64, saw amateurs claim their rightful place in the Space Age
with the first moonbounce contact in 1960 and launch of the first OSCAR in
1961.
Amateur Radio boomed thanks to the Novice license, and VHF became popular
thanks
to the Technician license. Crowding in the HF phone bands accelerated the
shift
from AM to SSB. The ARRL's 50th anniversary was a gala affair, with a
National
Convention featuring a Presidential candidate (Senator Barry Goldwater,
K7UGA)
and a postage stamp honoring Amateur Radio.

Another license restructuring controversy came to a head in 1967 with the
FCC's
resumption of "incentive licensing" to encourage amateurs to upgrade their
skills. Around the same time, ARRL instituted Life Membership and introduced
Five Band DXCC to encourage amateurs to explore the DX potential of the 80
and
40 meter bands. AMSAT-OSCAR 6 ushered in the era of "permanent" amateur
satellites in 1972, ultimately lasting 41/2 years. VHF operation shifted
from AM
to FM on a massive scale, with repeaters popping up like mushrooms and
autopatches presaging cellular telephones.

In 1974, ARRL began a concerted worldwide effort to protect and expand
amateur
frequency allocations at an upcoming World Administrative Radio Conference.
New
bands at 10, 18 and 24 MHz and new amateur-satellite bands were among our
WARC-79 achievements. Owen Garriott, W5LFL, became the first amateur to
operate
from space in 1983. Decade #7 ended with amateurs administering FCC
examinations
and embracing digital radio technology via packet radio and AMTOR.

Decades #8 and #9 are too recent to be considered history (and besides,
we're
running out of room) but it's worth noting that the FCC made a codeless
amateur
license available in 1991 and dropped the code speed for an HF license to 5
words per minute in 2000. It also bears mention that during this time ARRL
members embraced the Internet and the World Wide Web not as a replacement
for
radio, but as tools to expand its use and enjoyment.

What does the last decade before ARRL's Centennial Year, 2014, hold in
store?

Will Broadband Over Power Lines be "the end of Amateur Radio as we know it"
or a
bit of forgotten technological trivia? Will digital voice revolutionize the
ham
bands the way SSB reshaped HF in the '60s and the way FM reshaped VHF in the
'70s? Will software defined radios give us powerful new tools to "farm" the
radio spectrum? The answers to these and countless other questions will be
found
right here-- in the pages of future issues of QST!