Zero Bias: April 2004

The ARRL’s recent proposal to “re-restructure” amateur radio licensing and expand some HF phone bands at the expense of the existing Novice CW bands has generated quite a bit of discussion on and off the air … though much of it has less to do with the merits of the proposal than with repeating tired old catch-phrases based more on emotion than fact. Now, chances are at least some of you agree with at least some of these catch-phrases, so I’m putting on my flame-retardant underwear and ask only that you read all the way through before going ballistic, firing off a nastygram (via the National Traffic System, of course) and canceling your subscription because you can’t tolerate reading views that disagree with yours. So here we go…

 “It’s going to turn ham radio into CB.” – We’ve heard this about any proposed change in licensing rules ever since there was CB. Before that, proposed changes were simply going to kill ham radio. The fact is that since Sheriff Riley came riding into town in his white direction-finding van and started rounding up the bad guys, the amateur airwaves are probably better-behaved today than at any time in the last 25 years. Exception: the upper ends of 75 and 20 meters, populated primarily by long-time 20 word-a-minute Extras. Speaking of which, it would appear from the enforcement letters sent out by the FCC that at least as many long-time 20 word-a-minute Extras as “no-code CB techs” are getting busted – and both groups together make up a tiny minority of active hams. Another fact: Over the past 40 years, CB has been the main source of newcomers into ham radio. Far from killing the hobby as many have feared over the years, CB has sustained amateur radio.

 “They’re dumbing down the license requirements again.” – First of all, I challenge any long-time Extra to sit down and take today’s Extra Class written exam without studying. Unless you’re an active electronic engineer working in RF, chances are there will be stuff there you’ve never seen before. Difficult stuff. And there’s nothing there on tubes anymore. In fact, take the Technician or General test without studying. See how well you do on the power density questions.

As for the code test, I’ve met very few hams who say the code test made them better hams, better people, or enthusiastic code operators. Times are changing and hams are the only people on the radio dial still using Morse code. As I’ve said here before, there are many good and valid reasons to learn and use Morse code – reasons that will not change if the code test were to go away. The FCC said years ago that it saw no continued regulatory need for a code requirement, except for the international rules, which have now been changed. This is not dumbing down, it’s adapting to current realities.

“The manufacturers just want to make more money (and we just want to sell more magazines).” – This is my favorite. As I said in a forum at the Miami Tropical Hamboree in February when someone brought this up, This is America. Making money is supposed to be good. Making more money is supposed to be better. It’s how we’ve come to have the highest standard of living on the planet.

The fact is that a healthy amateur radio industry is essential for a healthy amateur radio hobby (or service). Very few of us have the skills or the tools necessary for building today’s state-of-the-art radios. Very few of us can program microprocessors or build circuits populated by surface-mount components. Besides, ham gear is incredibly cheap compared with comparable commercial gear – sometimes by a factor of three to four. Our rigs are bargains, plain and simple.

We depend on the amateur radio manufacturers to keep us on the air; on the publishers to keep us informed. You’re reading this magazine because you find some value in it; otherwise you wouldn’t have parted with your $5 at the newsstand or your $32 for a subscription. If the manufacturers don’t sell enough ham rigs, they’ll stop making ham rigs. If the publishers don’t sell enough ham books and magazines, they’ll stop publishing them. And then where will ham radio be?

Our manufacturers take a big financial risk every time they start working on a new model. There are the costs of research, engineering, design, manufacturing and distribution that must be paid before a single penny in revenue comes in the door. In exchange for this risk, they are entitled to a fair return on their investments. And as I said above, our rigs – even the expensive ones – are incredible bargains when compared to the cost of their commercial counterparts.

Remember – the FCC says only that hams can’t be compensated for operating amateur radio. It says nothing about being fairly compensated for manufacturing or selling equipment, accessories and related items. The FCC rules also say nothing about making money (and often a ton of it) from products developed on the basis of knowledge gained in the Amateur Radio Service. Thousands upon thousands of you have parlayed your hobby into your career. We salute you for it. But if it’s OK for you to make a good living based on ham radio, it’s just as much OK to make a good living in the amateur radio industry. One does not take a vow of poverty before entering the ham radio industry.

I want the manufacturers to sell more radios, so they and their dealers make more money, so they all buy more ads in CQ, so our company makes more money, so I make more money, so I can buy more radios (not to mention putting my kids through college). It’s the American way.

The ARRL’s Proposal

Now, on to the substance of the ARRL’s proposal. W5YI covers it in detail in his column this month, so I won’t go into specifics here. It seems that one of the greatest points of controversy among those who have actually read it is the proposal to “grandfather” current Technicians into the General Class. There is some substance to the opposition here. As CQ Contributing Editor Gordon West, WB6NOA, points out, there is very little on the current Technician exam related to HF band limits, operating practices, etc. For example, how would a Tech being grandfathered to General know that the convention for phone operation on 160, 75 and 40 meters is lower sideband? Or the unique restrictions on operation in the new 60-meter band? Many hams, including Gordon, believe a test on HF rules and operating practices should be required before a General Class license is issued. Others, however, feel there are ways to get this information without taking a test and that new HF operators will want to “fit in” and will make the effort to learn the “rules of the road” before hitting the HF highway. Perhaps this would be a good initial assignment for the new mentoring program that the ARRL is trying to get started.

Here’s a thought: How about setting aside the current Extra Class CW segments as CW-only preserves, thus protecting them from encroachment by digital signals currently permitted there and from future phone band expansions? It would make a lot of sense, especially if a code test continues to be required for Extra Class, to make sure there are designated areas for operating code and nothing else.

Back to School

Once again this past January, I volunteered to lead an “enrichment cluster” on hobby radio in my town’s elementary schools. This program brings together 5th and 6th graders from throughout the district to take one of about 15 “mini-courses” on a variety of topics, taught by people from the community. My course covered AM broadcast DXing, shortwave listening, scanning and various forms of personal two-way communication, including (of course) ham radio. I also got crystal radio kits from MFJ for the kids to build. While the kids were moderately interested in listening to different stations, and in tangling up the wire for their kits, the idea of talking back continued to grab them. They had a great time with two little Family Radio Service handhelds I brought in. They were all excited about talking on the microphone of my ham rig to the two stations we contacted. But – once again – what got them most excited was … code. I brought in the little QRPp transmitter in an Altoids™ tin that K4TWJ built for me, tuned my receiver to its output frequency, and transmitted while walking around the room. They all wanted to try it out (don’t worry, I identified regularly and nobody else was on frequency at the time – and the receive antenna was outside the room, so I would have heard anyone who might have heard me). Conclusion – yet again – kids think code is cool. Kids think ham radio is cool. We just have to make sure they know it exists. – 73, W2VU

Caption (color photo):

Fifth and sixth-grade students in the Hobby Radio “enrichment cluster” in Bloomfield, NJ listen in as W2VU makes a contact on HF. (Susan Moseson photo)

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