[Hallicrafters] Ruination of ham radio? Plus WTB

Sun Aug 24 15:04:12 EDT 2003

I believe what you are saying is to have only one class of license which 
will do away with this "I am better then your" mindset that seems to 
have taken over Ham Radio.  Whether CW is a part of it is doesn't matter 
as long as everyone take one test and all have the same operating 
privilages. Sort of like it use to be.   I am for that.

 So back to Hallicrafters discussions:.   

WTB:  Anyone have a Power Supply for a Hallicrafters SR-400 they would 
sell ?  I could also use a manual.

Thanks
Ron  

W5HTW at att.net wrote:

>(I wasn't going to put this here, but on my web site instead.  But seeing as
>others are making longer comments I thought I'd try, too.  It is on my web
>site, though.)  
>
>Greg, it's more complex than that, of course, and it's more complex than can
>be posted on a reflector for specific radios.  
>
>First, the downfall of ham radio didn't start with 1999 Restructuring.  That
>may have been one of the major nails in the coffin, I agree, and there are a
>few more to go before we bury it.  
>
>Due to travels I had been away from ham radio for a few years.  One day in
>1993 I was out in the woods and stumbled across a Field Day site.  I decided
>to drop in and chat with the hams.  When I did I was met with "You're a ham?"
> which is a normal question to ask.  Then, "What's your call sign?"   My call
>was W0RKX and had been for many years.  I gave it.  One of the two men then
>looked at the other and in classic derisive tone said "Sounds like a Tech to
>me."  I was not made welcome, by any means.  I was also caught off guard by
>this slur against my license class, and pointed out that I was an Extra class.
> I doubt they believed me and I left with a very disappointing view of "The
>New Ham Radio." I had seen "class hatred, class resentment" for the first time
>in what was then my 36th year in the hobby. 
>
>The problems began when they started to undo Incentive Licensing.  Make the
>Novice ticket a 'forever' ticket.  Remove the two year experience requirement
>for the Extra, thereby removing that "journeyman" level of quality.  And
>create the code-free Technician, which was, in the eyes of most hams of old,
>just another Class D CB ticket.  And I had just experienced the feeling hams
>had about a code free Tech, when it was believed I was one.  
>
>Shortly after that, goaded into getting away from that stigma, I modified my
>call sign to my permanent address and received the call AB5HK.  I got call
>plates on my car.  One day at the post office some guy approached with the
>"You're a ham?" conversation starter.  I said that I was.  He said, "Oh,
>you're one of the Advanced tickets, huh?"   I had learned that the plan
>clearly showed that call sign was Extra class.  I said, "No, I'm an Extra."  
>He immediately looked dubious.  "But that's an Advanced call sign."   I
>shrugged and changed the subject and he soon left.  I had once again
>experienced the new class segregation of The New Ham radio.  
>
>Greg, when I became a ham, I was a Novice, one year, non-rewnewable.  And I
>was accepted at club meetings, at Field Day, in public service events.  I was
>a young kid and maybe dumb or naive or both, but I never recall one ham, not
>one, looking down at me because of my license class.  I was encouraged at
>every step from hams I knew and hams I did not know.  Years later, when I
>became an Extra I just could not imagine not accepting a Novice, Tech (the old
>kind) or General as being a ham.  My "job" as an Extra, was to help them
>advance, too.  And I did it, in classes I taught in clubs and at the Y.  And a
>few I took to my home and taught individually.  
>
>We hear today people saying that the "old hams" are the ones making the mess
>on 75 meters. First, it really isn't all a mess if people listen a bit and
>don't dial around looking for the bad guys.  But mainly the hams today on 75
>meters are the ones who came along ten years ago, most migrating from CB, long
>before 1999 Restructuring entered our world.  What we are hearing is the
>result of efforts made in the late 80s and early 90s to "get more hams, not
>better hams."  And the trend continues. 
>
>It is unfortunate that today those who have been around a while do appear
>reluctant to mentor the newcomer.  If that newbie shows an interest in CW, we
>see a spark of 'real ham' in him.  But if he is simply anxious to get on 20
>meters and chase DX, we wonder what rites of passage he may be willing to go
>through.  What level of dedication, and of achievement, drives him?  Is it the
>same level that drove him initially to get on 11 meters?  If so, it just isn't
>enough for us, for we worked hard to make this an elite hobby, and by 'work' I
>mean we taught others, we recruited others, we dedicated hours to helping
>others.  But if this newbie is just interested in more 11 meters on a
>different frequency, you're right, we aren't interested in him.  And for a
>huge percentage, that is the case.  But not all of them.  The ones with a real
>interest, though, are swept out along with the ones seeking a shortcut to
>'buddydom.'  And to the top.  
>
>It's like building a home in the forest.  You love the trees, the birds, the
>silence, the little stream.  But more and more people discover your paradise
>and they move in, building cheaper homes, parking junk cars in their drives,
>cutting down the trees, polluting the stream, and eventually you are living in
>a slum.  This is what we are seeing.  And each person is right, it isn't his
>fault, but he contributes to the problem by not wanting to live up to the
>standards that were the originals, the covenants, if you will.  
>
>What many of us saw as the real ham radio, when good operating and courtesy
>were the rule, has already gone.  As you point out, 2 meters is just VHF CB.
>And as many point out, 75 and 20 are turning into the same thing, and 40 is
>well on its way.  Just different HF CB bands.  It has slipped through our
>fingers.  I think a lot of us no longer want to help the newbie for we see it
>as a useless task, with neither reward nor goal.  It can't solve anything.  It
>won't fix anything.  And that newbie can never experience the real ham radio,
>for it's gone.  
>
>So it is probably true that a lot of us just want to enjoy what is left, in
>our own way, and then, if we live long enough, switch to some other hobby when
>this one loses any enjoyment.  Once a hobby is no longer enjoyable, it is not
>a hobby but a chore.  I think a lot of us are sitting on that fence right now,
>trying to decide if it is fun to turn on the radio, or if it is boring, or
>worse yet, unpleasant.  We are clinging to a dying vine and wondering whether
>to let go, so we keep clinging until the decision is made.  
>
>What's the point of helping the newcomers?  They can't save ham radio.  In
>fact, largely, they aren't even interested in radios, but in computers.  They
>use the radio simply as another modem, a way for the computers to talk.  And
>though some of us old timers did get into computers (I became the network
>administrator for a company before I retired) many did not, and we can't teach
>the newcomer about computers anyway, and we don't understand why he has to
>replace radio with a computer and still call it ham radio.  
>
>Is all this your fault?  Nope.  And I do not sneer at you, or at any ham,
>unless he comes to me with that "give me more, free, right now" attitude.  I
>contribute often to the Elmers boards on the various web sites, for, if it is
>about radio, or radio operation, and not about computers, I may have something
>I can offer.  I'm willing to help those who want help in radio.  In person or
>on the web, or on the air.  But they don't want help, Greg.  They want to
>just get that Extra ticket, the quick and easy way, and get on 20 meters and
>work DX.  They don't want to learn operating procedures, or practice courtesy,
>or work their way up.  They start school and they want to be in the 12th grade
>immediately, and to be teaching the teachers.  
>
>You are a victim of the New Ham Radio.  So I am.  We all are.  Sorry.
>
>73
>Ed
>
>
>--
>Ed Brooks, W5HTW
>http://w5htw.home.att.net/index.html
>Active since June 1956 Extra since
>Jan 1970
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