[SADXA] [bart_users] FCC & ARRL (My 2-cents worth)

[Rolland Sicard via SADXA]

I understand what has been said about this situation. Don't throw out the baby with the bath water. Personally, I would favor having the Technician and other tests to be more stringent towards electronics.
Yet, after some experience with the Military and Commercial Electronics Industry, I doubt that they teach electronics and troubleshooting to the component level any more.  From experience, I have learned that nowadays the Military uses Built In Test Equipment(Bite) and computer automated test equipment(ATE)sets to functionally test Line Replaceable Units (LRUs).  Inside the LRUs there is Shop Replaceable Units (SRUs) i.e Printed Wiring Assemblies.  The automated test equipment isolates the fault to one modular plug in Printed Wiring Assembly(PWA).  Then with the lower cost of manufacturing PWAs, it is cost and time efficient to just replace the defective PWA with new and retest the LRU.
In other words, now it does not take a lot of knowledge to repair a LRU.  The same is true with cheap radios, if it does not work, throw it in the trash.
This does not stimulate the younger generation to get involved too deeply in the theory of Electronics.
Rolly
KW7RS 

     On Thursday, February 5, 2015 12:26 PM, "'dyarnes' w7aqk at cox.net [bart_users]" <bart_users at yahoogroups.com> wrote:
   

     John and All, I “hear” you, and feel your pain and frustration.  However, I’m not ready to blame it on ARRL.  Yes, they have done some things I strongly disagree with, but I really don’t think their intentions were dishonorable or suspect—only their analysis was flawed! If you want to blame something (or someone) for the lack of supervision on the bands, how about blaming those who have slashed the budget for this effort, and a lot of other things that should be done but aren’t, all under the false assumption that we don’t need this kind of governmental intervention!!!  It is really all very political.   There is a refuge of sorts, however.  The CW bands!!!  Every day I hear more and more of these “crazies” on the air, but you know what?  I don’t hear much of that on CW.  It is still pretty sane at that end, and I find great comfort, still to this day, and after nearly 60 years of being licensed, in practicing the hobby in that part of the spectrum.  You don’t find many “CBer’s” there, and if you do, they have usually gotten religion about what ham radio is and should be.  Most of the nut cases you hear on the ‘'voice” modes don’t know much about the equipment they are using, and I’d bet most of them have never, ever, picked up a soldering iron and built something!  Admittedly, though, there are a number of “bad actors” on CW as well—just not nearly as many of them.  The jammers trying to frustrate the K1N DXpedition are an example of that kind of bad conduct.   I’m not condemning the voice modes—not at all!  There are lots and lots of great people there, and the modes themselves are fun to use, not to mention important.  This Bart group is a prime example of that.  However, it is just too easy for non-conformists to jump in, having had little, if any, mentoring or training on courtesy and proper conduct.  On top of that, people can now buy cheap HT’s from China, and without showing proof of their authority to use them!   Anyway, it’s not just the “missteps” of the ARRL that brought us to this point.  I strongly suspect the “lack of enthusiasm” you observed from ARRL was more due to their own frustration at not being able to do much about it, and probably based on having tried in the past.  The FCC has nothing close to a budget, or the manpower, to properly control what goes on in the RF spectrum.  Many think the ARRL should step in and do something, but what can they do?  They certainly don’t have any authority, nor do they have the necessary assets either.   We need to be realistic about this.  We also need to think seriously about just why nothing seems to be effective.  The thinking has to go a lot deeper than just blaming the “names” on the surface.  There are a lot of things that affect us, and the hobby, that we just can’t seem to get resolved to our satisfaction.  This problem is one of them.  Antenna restrictions is another.  There is a very long list!  If we are not fighting the political element that doesn’t want to fund any kind of oversight, we are fighting the “monied interests” that lobby against what we are trying to achieve.   So, what do you do?  Well, you could maybe write to your Congressman (or state legislators?), and hope you can get his/her attention away for a minute or two from his efforts to raise funds for his next election!  The prognosis on that is not good.  Multiple efforts on things like getting some relief on antenna restrictions have proven that.   In any event, we can’t just unwittingly throw the blame on FCC, or the ARRL, simply because they happen to either be designated as the outlet for such complaints, or that they have a leadership position of sorts, and maybe even a history of having been more successful in the past.  You absolutely must first ask the question “can they realistically do anything about this”, given their circumstances.  If your answer is “probably not” (as it should be), then you have to ask “why not”!   By the way, another good example is the BPL controversy.  The FCC leadership has, over the years, become just another way to reward political friends—kind of like ambassadorships.  There isn’t a lot of competence, or deep understanding of issues like ours, among that group.  BPL fired up when a bunch of political hacks were running the show at FCC.  Now, the ARRL did make some good headway at beating that effort back, but it is still lurking.  It’s still a big potential problem, and for much the same reasons. Unfortunately, the root causes for much of our grief go much, much, much deeper than just pointing fingers at one or two entities.  Also, I personally don’t think the answer is to boycott ARRL.  While it may only be minimally effective, it is really the only organization we have that can do anything even if that isn’t all that much.  Besides, the opposition is almost overwhelming! Dave W7AQK From: mailto:bart_users at yahoogroups.com Sent: Thursday, February 5, 2015 10:13 AMTo: arizonaham at yahoogroups.com ; bart_users at yahoogroups.com ; 'Southern AZ DX Association E-Mail Reflector' ; SAZ_Amateur_Radio at yahoogroups.com ; Arizona-AM at yahoogroups.com Subject: [bart_users] FCC & ARRL (My 2-cents worth)   To the Amateur Radio Community,  I recently received a forwarded email from a fellow AM operator which documented a letter to the President of the ARRL and her shrugged shoulders response to the subject of CB radio and the FCC non-enforcement of that band, not to mention the encroachment of the ham bands by the non-licensed and activity such as that on 14.313.  That resulted in a response from another ham which was point-on for me:    The ARRL has used the power of this club to convince the FCC to dumb down the Ham test so the 99.5%  of the CB crowd can be hams (at $39.00 a year to the ARRL) Which of course created the awful mess ham radio is now experiencing.  Then claim in public the ARRL shares the true hams concerns on enforcement, but, we (ARRL) have no influence over the FCC in pressuring the FCC to enforce the rules.  _ This ham, purposefully not identified by me, went on to say:  That is why I never joined the ARRL and QRT my station. Amateur radio is an unworkable hobby for most hams and it is only going to get worse. Unless those that really love this hobby, stop sending money to the ARRL.  In my opinion, it ain’t gonna’ happen because the vast majority of hams today are appliance operators.  Yes, we have many who have learned through the efforts of elmers and their own volition and became knowledgeable and skilled.  That being said, most of the ham community is not going to vote for stiffening the requirements to be licensed.  In addition, our government is comprised of people who have become indifferent to the principles of hard work and pride of accomplishment and now worry about fairness and perceived inequality. They all talk a good line but won’t stand up to the mediocrity.   Hell, everybody should be able to be an amateur radio operator, it’s the right thing to do.  Considering all, I am probably guilty of complacency as well as I read the latest issue of QST.  As Pogo said many years ago, “We have met the enemy and he is us!” 
de WD7F John in Tucson      __._,_.___     Posted by: "dyarnes" <w7aqk at cox.net>     
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