[FPARC] Interesting Ad for Free Radio Equipment

[Bill Sinbine]

Lets do our best to not let THIS future come to pass.
This was sent to me by  Jeff , WA4AW ARRL  SFL  ACC
This doesn't really sound so far fetched,,...

73, Bill N4XEO


 >
 >Free Ham Radio Gear.... I hadn't been on the ham bands for many
 >years when I saw the ad in the newspaper For Sale Column.  I had
 >struggled really hard to get my ham license as a teenager. But in my
 >adult life I got involved in other things, and the radio gear on the
 >bench had a fine coating of dust on it from inactivity.
 >
 >The ad said -- "Giving away Ham Radio Gear. You pick up. No charge.
 >Free to a good home!" Wow I thought - This sounds too good to be
 >true! I had just the other day thought how much fun it would be to
 >turn the radio on and make a few contacts both local and
 >worldwide.
 >
 >So I called the number and a pleasant older voice answered. I made
 >arrangements and went over to see this gear. The radios ranged from
 >older tube sets to a new HF/VHF radio. I asked the ham why he didn't
 >want any money for the gear. He just smiled and said that he could
 >not use it anymore. I thought that he might be selling his house and
 >moving into a retirement community where they did not allow radios.
 >I thanked him,
 >packed the gear in the car and rushed home to try it out.
 >
 >My antenna farm was a tangled mess due to a number of frozen winter
 >storms without repair. So I fashioned a crude antenna from a hunk of
 >wire and stuck it to the back of one of the newer radios. I pushed
 >the "on" button, with the intent of just listening to some HF Ham
 >Stations, and was surprised what I heard.
 >
 >There were signals there all right but not the ones I had hoped to
 >hear. Instead the band was full of Short Wave and Data Signals. I
 >turned to another band and heard the same thing. This is really
 >weird I thought!  Since this was one of those fancy newer HF/VHF
 >radios, I tuned down to the 2 meter and 440 bands looking for the
 >local repeaters. What I heard there were truck drivers and  taxi cab
 >companies talking to their dispatchers, and even a local hotel chain
 >talking to their work crew about getting rooms ready. I thought to!
 >myself -- no wonder the guy wanted to get rid of this equipment --
 >the radio only gets the scanner channels.
 >I'm guessing that he wanted to get rid of this radio, because he
 >didn't want to go to the expense of sending them back to the
 >manufacturers service center.
 >
 >Puzzled by what I was hearing I decided to call the old ham and ask
 >some information on what had caused this radio to receive the local
 >scanner frequencies in the ham band segment. Over the phone he
 >laughed out loud and said, "No those are the ham bands all right --
 >or what used to be the ham bands!" "What - do you mean used to be?",
 >I asked back.
 >
 >He went on to tell me that several years ago the FCC had closed
 >those bands to hams due to inactivity by the ham community. Those
 >bands are now being used by land services and other business uses,"
 >he said. "You mean all the ham bands were given away?", I asked.
 >"Don't be silly," he replied, " the FCC sold off those parcels of
 >unused bands to the highes! t bidder! They simply put out a letter
 >to all the hams saying that
 >these bands were restricted to business only. And we were to never
 >use these bands again under penalty of thousand of dollars in fines."
 >
 >What he told me left me dumbstruck! "So let me get this straight," I
 >said, "you mean that the reason you gave me this equipment is
 >because there are no longer bands to use it on! "Yep! he said with a
 >laugh, "It was simply that the FCC saw all those empty ham bands as
 >a gold mine of potential fundraising for the government. With no one
 >using the bands, and a unsupportive and ineffective ham radio lobby,
 >hams just literally gave those bands away to be sold off!"
 >
 >As I hung up the phone I thought of all the money I already had tied
 >up in ham radio equipment down in the basement. I had purchased both
 >old and new sets through the years and was quite proud of my ham
 >radio station. All that money wasted with nothing to do now, but
 >monitor the local Burger King asking if som! eone wanted fries with
 >their Whopper.
 >
 >A far fetched story? Not at all! Not a day goes by that you don't
 >read in the newspapers about the government selling off frequencies
 >to the highest bidder! A national radio communications magazine
 >recently had an article by a columnist saying his good byes as he
 >was closing his column after many years. Why? Well, he explained
 >that with all the different agencies going to trunking, the average
 >scanner listener could no longer listen to anything interesting on
 >the radio. That facts are time had passed and so had technology.
 >Suddenly he found himself with no one sending him emails about
 >interesting local frequencies that he could pass on to his readers.
 >With all the new systems out most of the old scanner units were as
 >useless as our old early day computers.
 >
 >There is a moral to this story of course. Anyone who has been around
 >the activity for a while can see the handwriting on the wall! Have
 >you listened to the repeaters lately,! during daytime, during drive
 >time, or anytime at all? Remember the days when all your friends
 >were on the radio just waiting to chat with you during the drive
 >home or after dinner?
 >Well, those friends are no longer on the radio anymore.
 >
 >Some have said it was because their old friends had moved to other
 >towns. Some said that their old friends got busy doing something
 >else, and no longer had the time to talk on the radio. Some blamed
 >it on the internet. While others decided that they just did not want
 >to talk to the new people they heard on radio. Everyone had an
 >excuse for no longer turning the radio on. Suddenly there was
 >silence!
 >
 >So when was the last time YOU threw out your call on the radio? When
 >was the last time you turned on the HF radio and enjoyed the thrill
 >talking to another land? I didn't say TYPING on the internet to
 >another land, I said TALKING on the radio to another land! When was
 >the last time you came to a radio club meeting, and what excuse did
 >y! ou have for that?
 >Was it because you were too busy? Was it because you were afraid you
 >would have to talk to "those new people" face to face? It seems that
 >today we all have so many excuses no longer being active on the
 >bands. I am sure that you have heard plenty or perhaps made up a
 >number of them yourself.
 >
 >Well, lets look at this another way! I remember a local AM talk
 >radio broadcaster suggesting that we follow the money trail. Let's
 >start with our side! We shelled out money for books and tapes to
 >learn the needed information to pass the license test. We shelled
 >out good money for the license, for the QSL cards, for the tower,
 >the antennas, the base
 >radio, the mobile radio, the HT's, the new keyer, club memberships
 >etc. Look at all the money that you have spent on this great hobby.
 >Count it up and you will soon discover that you have a lot of time
 >and money invested in this activity.
 >
 >Now lets return to the FCC looking for a way to make a buck by
 >selling fre! quencies. You know they really don't care how much you
 >personally have spent on radio hardware! They don't care how much
 >time you took to get that license. In fact your personal interests
 >are the last thing they are thinking about. They are only looking at
 >all those "empty" frequencies that they could sell to big business.
 >Remember the 220 ham segment that was sold off to United Parcel
 >Service a number of years ago? It will happen again -- for the right
 >price!
 >
 >But wait you say! How about the need for ham radio during National
 >Emergencies? How about 911, and the twin towers, and the terrorists
 >who are lurking everywhere. How about the hurricanes, the tidal
 >waves, the tornados and the floods? Let's be honest folks -- when
 >was the last time that YOU participated in any of those events? If
 >you haven't turned on the radio in years then isn't that just
 >another excuse. Ham Radio is going to run out of excuses one day and
 >suddenly YOU will be the one giving all your equipment away. Y! ou
 >may think this is all far fetched, but you would be run. Remember
 >that there are no guarantees that the ham bands will go on forever.
 >Especially if they are mostly empty and there is a buck to be made.
 >
 >Perhaps you would like to turn on the radio and check this out for
 >yourself? Simon and Garfunkel put out a record talking about "The
 >Sounds of Silence." This sound is not a good sound for YOU the ham
 >radio operator! This is the sound of the wolves at the door just
 >waiting to pounce on your ham bands! Oops - I meant to say on the
 >FCC frequencies that were your ham bands.
 >
 >This is a wake up call! Use them or lose them! Let me repeat that
 >again so it sinks in: USE THOSE BANDS NOW...OR LOSE THEM TOMORROW!
 >
 >Now is the time to dust off those radios, to throw out your call, to
 >join a radio club, to support the ARRL efforts in your behalf, to do
 >Field Day this summer and to return to the days when you made life
 >long friends through a great hobby.
 >
 >Or you can just! leave it the way it is now. Get that newspaper ad
 >ready for some poor ham who hasn't been on the radio for a long
 >time. It will save you leaving those boat anchors out on the curb
 >for the trash man!
 >
 >An editorial by Bob Fields, KC6AOH, President of the Delaware County
 >(PA) Amateur Radio Club 73