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It's Ham Vs.Ham As Radio Amateurs Are In Conflict At ARRL (perens.com)
Bruce Perens co-founded the Open Source Initiative with Eric Raymond -- and he's also Slashdot reader #3872. But this week he wrote in with some news from the world of amateur (or "ham") radio:
ARRL has been the USA's representative organization for Amateur Radio for over a century. More recently, the organization has replaced transparency and democratic representation of its membership with confidentiality, policies to stifle dissent, and punishment of their own leadership when they get out of line. A vote happening this month offers members a chance to get back in control.
The open letter at that link -- signed by several AARL life members (including Perens), argues that "The members are not currently represented as they should be, due to the continued application of a policy meant for a for-profit corporate board," adding that "The only whistle-blower on the board was publicly castigated for informing us."
"The currently-suspended rules that go against the member's interest are temporarily suspended, and could be restored."
The open letter at that link -- signed by several AARL life members (including Perens), argues that "The members are not currently represented as they should be, due to the continued application of a policy meant for a for-profit corporate board," adding that "The only whistle-blower on the board was publicly castigated for informing us."
"The currently-suspended rules that go against the member's interest are temporarily suspended, and could be restored."
The community has been divided since the days the really old timers were fighting everyone else over the No Code license (MORSE not programming)
Then there were the volunteer examiner scandals. Oh wow an 8 year old girl has somehow managed to get an Extra Class license how did that happen.
Matter of fact the group in general seems to do this on a regular basis. My guess it's the people that can't get genuine technical accomplishments like QRP records or high numbers of CQ contacts, screwing with everyone else.
Get a life, dweebs!!!!
...I've lived in 3 countries in Europe, they all fight over the same thing.
Old timers remember they heydays and how "hard" it was to take the license, it was earned, not given etc...
They tend to forget that there's a "maker" community today, that does at least as much technical stuff if not more than they ever did, and it's very hard to make the two meet. Old times despise the social media chat, because they see it too easy to just connect to the internet, and presto - you instantly chat with people all over the world.
To them - being a radio amateur means working hard to get some old school electronics theory, plus the mastery of morse code (which is actually pretty hard, it's easy to read on a piece of paper, but VERY hard to train the ear to listen to at 120 characters per minute), it was for me... I'm an "old timer" radio amateur myself, and I hardly use the radio anymore, I'm on the net like the rest of you - but I like to dabble in electronics, building robotics etc, and I feel it's sad that my fellow old timers have such a hard time adapting to the new times, especially when you can easily consider they where the pioneers of your "taken for granted" communications technology we enjoy today in such small formats.
I remember experimenting with my own BBS (Bulletin board system) which I set up with the help of a few transistors and a commodore 64 back in the early 80's when internet was relatively unknown. Then my fellow enthusiasts could leave messages to me or each other when I was at school. We even digitized images from scanning or video cameras, to send binaries or slow scan via the airwaves, that was our "instagram" back then.
But we did it - way before anyone else did. And fun times it was. But old timers (particularly way older than me) they just don't see it, and they don't "need" to see it, they will take their memories with them to the grave, good times were theirs, and they lived them to the fullest.
A pity really - because they have so much to give, so much to share, and yet - still - so much to learn.
What this world is coming to - is for you and me to decide.
Same here - Extra and have been licensed for over 35 years, and I have always seen the ARRL as just like every other dominant hobby organization -- corrupted by money, self-preservation, and leaders who enjoy political role-playing. But then I'm just a lowly experimenter who rarely transmits and not a whacker https://rationalwiki.org/wiki/Whacker/, so I'm probably in the minority.
Strange things are afoot at the Circle-K.
These guys are arguing over the placement of the deck chairs on the Titanic. --KZ7B AE
How about a moderation of -1 pedantic.
If I wanted to do health checks on old farts I would go to an old folks home. Repeaters are all dead because nobody wants to offend anyone and lose their license. Pirate radio is truly where its at.
I am a HAM and I do a lot of volunteer work with my license. In large events, like the Boston Marathon, cell phones bandwidth gets limited and making calls can be difficult. Like the time of the bombing, they turned off cell phones. I have volunteered at the Boston Marathon a few times and the HAMs play a major role in coordination of medical attention for runners, getting supplies to various stops, and observing runners looking for ones that may be in trouble.
When people say amateur radio is dead or dying, it really isn't. Its kind of growing. You can get a great rig for about $200 these days (Beofung), and you can make a very good antenna for 2M and 70cm out of some wire and PVC pipe. A lot of the preppers and survivalists are also becoming HAMs.
There is a test, you need to pass it, but its about half technical and half rules and crap. You don't need to be a genius, but you will need to study a bit.