[SOC] no more OO's

Thu Aug 2 14:43:54 EDT 2018

Joe - I believe that you, and most OOs, are trying to help the amateur radio community.  I never received a notice from an OO in over 20 years because I frequently talk to my Dad, a career RF circuit designer, and we would identify and address problems in short order.  

Although I still frequently talk to my father, in recent years I've received 2 cards.  Strangely, they were both for transmissions during world-wide contests.  One of them was for "key clicks"....however, the CW I was sending was computer generated, sent via a Signalink sound card.  There were no keys or relays involved in generating the signal.  The other card was for parts of my signal being too close to the edge of the sub-band while responding to an Italian station calling QRZ Contest.  I guess there were hundreds of us that got written up for that, because there was a significant pileup on that frequency.

I say all of that to say this; there are a number of OOs who just enjoy filling out cards and feeling important.  Why is it that these OOs only appear during major contests?  I liken it to a motorcycle cop sitting behind a billboard on a busy holiday weekend, and pulling over everyone who has a broken tail light or drives 1 mph over the speed limit.  He just want to write tickets. These guys get on when the bands are packed, and start to nit-pick just to fill out cards.  The Amateur Auxiliary advises OOs to avoid gray areas, yet both times that I received cards, they had nothing to do with an equipment problem and they were during contests when my transmissions were MAYBE 10 seconds long.  Is this what OOs are supposed to be doing?  I do not think that was the purpose of the program, but I will say that a few bad apples can give all OOs a bad reputation, which explains the combative nature of those who received cards.  Perhaps the OOs should have some sort of accountability.  I don't know how that can be done, but I do think that in some cases of late, OOs do not act to help the ham, but instead act to fill out cards to look (and feel) important.  This really diminishes the role of the OO, because cards will largely be disregarded.

That's just my opinion based on personal experience.  Your results may vary.  All the best,

Jim
N2SUB

Do or Do Not. There is no try.

--- v31jp1957 at gmail.com wrote:

From: Joe Pontek Sr <v31jp1957 at gmail.com>
To: soc at mailman.qth.net
Subject: Re: [SOC] no more OO's
Date: Thu, 2 Aug 2018 12:58:36 -0500

I was an OO as well as holding other appointments and became an SCM, 
predecessor to today's SM.

As an OO, I set out notices to help someone who may not have known they 
had a problem.  That was
in the days of some pretty obnoxious and obscene operating on 75 
meters.  Those operators knew
what they were doing, so it would do no good to waste he time and money 
to send them an OO report.
I often received thank you notes from operators, even requesting help to 
solve a problem which I
gave, particularly as I was in the technical profession and might be 
able guide them.

I was in no way a Radio Cop.  I believe some operators are so 
embarrassed, they think they have to
strike out to redeem the character.  I think I got two such responses 
during my tenure.  These, I
responded in a kind manner explaining, I was trying to help and 
informing them what I observed
in the case that they were not aware of the problem.  I wished them well 
and told them I meant
no ill will.

I have over my 61 years of operating received two or three OO reports.  
Only one did I question,
but still investigated with help from fellow operators.  I suspected the 
OO in that case had a blanker
in his receiver turned on and caused him to hear key clicks that were 
not there.  I had acquired a
used FT-990 and one friend told me about hearing key clicks from it.  I 
promptly did some searches
and found Tom's, W8JI, had a cure.  I installed the mods and we checked. 
Problem solved!

With most of today's modern radios, such problems are much less common, 
but....

73, Joe, K8JP - V31JP

On 8/2/2018 12:07 AM, Jim Larsen wrote:
> A second opinion:
> If I had a chirp on my signal and did not know about it, I would appreciate
> the OO notice.  Notices are only advisory and intended to help. That said,
> I am sure some OOs went too far at times (I am pretty sure they did).  In
> general, I do not consider OO notices useless.
>
> My two cents worth.
>
> Jim, AL7FS
> Alaska Section Manager-ARRL, 2008-2015
> SOC #003
>
> Jim Larsen
> 1-907-223-3548
>
> . Os the same way someone making sure our second harmonic is not too high,
>> which we might not know, and our chirp level (which we do know, thank you)
>>
-- 
Regards, Joe, K8JP/V31JP, Martin & Sidney Pontek
175 Diamond Loch Rd., Apt. 5
Gilmer, TX 75644-9374
U.S.A.
or
P.O. Box 280, Dangriga, Stann Creek District
(Hopkins Village) Belize

903-204-2318 (My TX cellular)
903-884-5990 (Skype telephone number, Belize & TX)
Also, K8JP, member FOC-1743, QCWA-LM21894, OOTC-4607, A1OP, SKCC-3171T, NAQCC-5798, Flying Pig-2819, FISTS-7625CC951, A1C-2299, SOC 1075, 10-10 22977, PG1915841, CW Rag chewers #21,
Facebook: Joe Pontek
Skype: v31joepalooka
I am looking for Vibroplex Model X, Double lever and prefer basket cases to restore.
LotW

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