But no one ever said that Linux had to be the number one operting system and no one is saying that ham radio has be be a hobby for everyone. Both provide a challenge to the user and train their users in skills that are valuable. Not everyone needs to be a computer nerd and not everyone needs to be a ham radio operater. But if we can't respect each other, then how can others respect us? You guys are all about making sarcastic come backs which make you feel all warm and fuzzy that you are superior. So, if it makes you feel better, you can think that hams are a bunch of old codgers. But remember that hams were involved in every bit of wireless technology you ever thought about using.
The same reason you use Linux rather than Mac or Windows. Because it challenges the brain and makes me think. Trust me, I know bigger compter geeks than ham radio geeks.
What is amazing is people who have an oppinion about something they know nothing about! Emergency communications! How many of you non-hams even knew that ham radio was involved during the 9/11 terrorist attacks? Or during every hurricane that hits land anywhere in the world? That it was a ham radio operator risking his life to transmit out to the rest of the world when Iraq invaded Kuwait? Or that hams assist during brush fires, communications failures in a hospital? Hams are the storm spotters refered to by the weather men on TV and at the National Weather Service. And they are the first into the affected area after a tornado hit, working for the Red Cross to assess the damage. Hams assist with communcations after ice storms and blizzards when the power lines are down! They helped with the Space Shuttle Columbia recovery. They help with search and rescue missions all the time. There is hardly a week goes by that ham radio is not active somewhere helping with communications after some disaster. Large or small.
Did you know that ham radio operators help with communications for the Boston Marathon, the Rose Parade and at the Olympics?
So why is it that FEMA, the Red Cross, the Salvation Army, local law enforcement and fire departments ask for help from hams? Because we are not dependent on any infrastructure. We are point to point and have established networks that help keep communications flowing. What might sound like casual conversation most of the time is really networking. A ham in Los Angeles talks to a ham in New York and another in Kansas City. When the need to get a message through and powerlines are down in your area (and this happens all the time, it keeps those linemen from the power companies busy) that ham in another part of the country is the who you call to help get communications started. How do you make a random call for help on a cell phone or on the internet?
Acutally... CB radio is basically ham radio with serious restrictions. The CB band was once an amateur radio band and you can talk around the world on the CB frequencies with proper equipment. I am a ham radio operator. I see bigger geeks at the Linux usergroups and hams have a lot more common sense. Ham radio is used on the ISS, (international space station for those who don't know) and was one of the first systems on the station to be brought online. Ham radio operators have invented new modes of communications, they created the repeater systems used by most public service organizations. They have designed ways of using LESS bandwidith to get the message through. Morse Code, CW, phase shift keying, frequency shift keying, they had wireless networks years ago. Ham radio saved the life of a young man who had been shot by what is best described as pirates while at sea. His life was SAVED when a ham radio operator who was a doctor relayed instructions to his parents. It was ham radio operators who arranged for his care at a Texas hospital. In Oklahoma City it was ham radio operators who spotted the first of several deadly tornados, allowing the National Weather Service to issue timely warnings. Dispite their WSR-88D (dopper radio) the only 100% infallible method of detecting a tornado is a human eye, and the eyes that are out there watching are mostly ham radio operators. When the tornadoes are past, the hams then go to work for the Red Cross helping with shelter communications and assessing the damage. They will be at hospitals staffing radios to help with patient handling. They probably will be the method used by the Red Cross to get word from your loved ones in the affected area that they are safe or not back to you. Hams are with firefighters in areas were wildfires are ravanging the land. Hams were critical during the immediate aftermath of 9/11 and during the clean up. In New York, Washington and Pennsylvania and across the country when millions of travelers were stranded and being housed in Red Cross Shelters. The Red Cross is so used to their dedication and their ability to get the message through, that even though phones were up, hams were activated to staff the shelters for communications. Hams came forward. What did your local Linux group do?
So, if BPL was going basically render Linux unusable, what would your reaction be? What if it meant your TV would be unviewable? Ham radio operators do not ask for glory or fame for what they do. They just do it. For anyone to say that they are just wanting to talk to someone on the radio, well that shows the speakers ignorance and not the true value of the service that can be accomplished. Most of the internet is a garbage heap, but there are parts of it that are very valuable. But I am not willing to give up a viable and proven resource so someone can download porn, or bootleg copies of movies.
As for the geeks who think hams are geeks. Well... fine, if it makes you feel better to look down on someone who is willing to use his/her skills to help you free of charge. So be it.
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But no one ever said that Linux had to be the number one operting system and no one is saying that ham radio has be be a hobby for everyone. Both provide a challenge to the user and train their users in skills that are valuable. Not everyone needs to be a computer nerd and not everyone needs to be a ham radio operater. But if we can't respect each other, then how can others respect us? You guys are all about making sarcastic come backs which make you feel all warm and fuzzy that you are superior. So, if it makes you feel better, you can think that hams are a bunch of old codgers. But remember that hams were involved in every bit of wireless technology you ever thought about using.
The same reason you use Linux rather than Mac or Windows. Because it challenges the brain and makes me think. Trust me, I know bigger compter geeks than ham radio geeks.
What is amazing is people who have an oppinion about something they know nothing about! Emergency communications!
How many of you non-hams even knew that ham radio was involved during the 9/11 terrorist attacks?
Or during every hurricane that hits land anywhere in the world?
That it was a ham radio operator risking his life to transmit out to the rest of the world when Iraq invaded Kuwait?
Or that hams assist during brush fires, communications failures in a hospital? Hams are the storm spotters refered to by the weather men on TV and at the National Weather Service. And they are the first into the affected area after a tornado hit, working for the Red Cross to assess the damage. Hams assist with communcations after ice storms and blizzards when the power lines are down! They helped with the Space Shuttle Columbia recovery. They help with search and rescue missions all the time. There is hardly a week goes by that ham radio is not active somewhere helping with communications after some disaster. Large or small.
Did you know that ham radio operators help with communications for the Boston Marathon, the Rose Parade and at the Olympics?
So why is it that FEMA, the Red Cross, the Salvation Army, local law enforcement and fire departments ask for help from hams? Because we are not dependent on any infrastructure. We are point to point and have established networks that help keep communications flowing. What might sound like casual conversation most of the time is really networking. A ham in Los Angeles talks to a ham in New York and another in Kansas City. When the need to get a message through and powerlines are down in your area (and this happens all the time, it keeps those linemen from the power companies busy) that ham in another part of the country is the who you call to help get communications started. How do you make a random call for help on a cell phone or on the internet?
The bands were not over crowded because because we aren't using them, it is that we use them with more discipline.
Acutally... CB radio is basically ham radio with serious restrictions. The CB band was once an amateur radio band and you can talk around the world on the CB frequencies with proper equipment. I am a ham radio operator. I see bigger geeks at the Linux usergroups and hams have a lot more common sense. Ham radio is used on the ISS, (international space station for those who don't know) and was one of the first systems on the station to be brought online. Ham radio operators have invented new modes of communications, they created the repeater systems used by most public service organizations. They have designed ways of using LESS bandwidith to get the message through. Morse Code, CW, phase shift keying, frequency shift keying, they had wireless networks years ago. Ham radio saved the life of a young man who had been shot by what is best described as pirates while at sea. His life was SAVED when a ham radio operator who was a doctor relayed instructions to his parents. It was ham radio operators who arranged for his care at a Texas hospital. In Oklahoma City it was ham radio operators who spotted the first of several deadly tornados, allowing the National Weather Service to issue timely warnings. Dispite their WSR-88D (dopper radio) the only 100% infallible method of detecting a tornado is a human eye, and the eyes that are out there watching are mostly ham radio operators. When the tornadoes are past, the hams then go to work for the Red Cross helping with shelter communications and assessing the damage. They will be at hospitals staffing radios to help with patient handling. They probably will be the method used by the Red Cross to get word from your loved ones in the affected area that they are safe or not back to you. Hams are with firefighters in areas were wildfires are ravanging the land. Hams were critical during the immediate aftermath of 9/11 and during the clean up. In New York, Washington and Pennsylvania and across the country when millions of travelers were stranded and being housed in Red Cross Shelters. The Red Cross is so used to their dedication and their ability to get the message through, that even though phones were up, hams were activated to staff the shelters for communications. Hams came forward. What did your local Linux group do? So, if BPL was going basically render Linux unusable, what would your reaction be? What if it meant your TV would be unviewable? Ham radio operators do not ask for glory or fame for what they do. They just do it. For anyone to say that they are just wanting to talk to someone on the radio, well that shows the speakers ignorance and not the true value of the service that can be accomplished. Most of the internet is a garbage heap, but there are parts of it that are very valuable. But I am not willing to give up a viable and proven resource so someone can download porn, or bootleg copies of movies. As for the geeks who think hams are geeks. Well... fine, if it makes you feel better to look down on someone who is willing to use his/her skills to help you free of charge. So be it.