Right now, one of the biggest pieces of regulation change, probably ever in the history of American Ham Radio, is before the FCC.
QRZ.com has graciously hosted a PDF version of the Notice of Proposed Rulemaking here. View for a look.
Of course, this has doen nothing but shake the hamsexy hornet’s nest, and the old farts, malcontents, troublemakers and stalwarts have all making their opinions known. Usually an amusing read, QRZ’s thread on the topic is proving quite interesting. While some are for the elimination of code, a great many others are against it.
There’s one factor that is common in most of the pro-code posts on that (and most) threads on QRZ… SNOBBERY. As you are aware, us here on Hamsexy have taken it upon ourselves to point out and highlight useless snobs in our beloved hobby. As with most hobbies, ham radio has it’s share of snobs. Unfortunatley, Ham radio has more than most – which is why we exist.
But – my little piece of wisdom is this: The problems of Ham Radio don’t even BEGIN with keeping or losing code, but a lot of the same people are involved.
(The thread on the Hamsexy Forums can be found here: http://forums.hamsexy.com/viewtopic.php?t=2694)
I feel I must spin the tables here. You call the pro-code faction snobs. Ok, that’s fine. But if you want to call the pro-code faction snobs, then I have every right to call the anti-code faction irreverent, self-centered, childish slackers of cry babies.
This site’s primary purpose in life is to point out the ham-radio wannabees. And I’ll bet a dollar to a doughnut that most wackers are not your 20 WPM Extra with 15 years under his belt. It’s the newbie who has no clue about where ham radio has been and where it’s going.
I will agree that the problems of Ham Radio don’t even begin or end with the code requirement. So that raises the good question…why bother? If you readily admit that even after the code requirement is dropped we will still be in trouble, then why take that route at all? All this does is alienate a core group of “old farts” that we desperately need. Was it really so long ago that we had Elmers and tall-tales of 10 kW amplifiers and wizards who could copy CW in their head?
It has come to the point that we have become whores to justify our existence. We whore ourselves out to Emcomm. We whore ourselves out ARES/RACES. We whore ourselves out to MARS. We have become the whore junkie who will do anything for a dime just so we can get another score.
When are we going to stop and just say “Fuck It. We’re Ham Radio. This is what we do. Take it or leave it.”
I’m only one voice speaking for myself.
I never found pro-code people to be snobs.
I found pro-code licensing to be snobbish.