The conservative blogosphere is all agog over Obama's advice to Republicans to "stop listening to Rush Limbaugh". One particular commentary I ran across (on the "Hot Air" website, apparently a conservative political site I've never heard of before) was the suggestion to use ham radio to "keep in touch" and "coordinate resistance activities". While such use of ham radio is not explicitly forbidden, at least in the United States, and there is certainly is a lot of political talk on at least some ham radio bands, there's at least a historical understanding that the use of amateur radio frequencies for overtly political activity is not consistent with the purpose of the amateur radio service. (Anybody here remember the Student Information Net?)
More practically, our dear conservative friend should be reminded that there are also liberals in the ranks of amateur radio operators, and we will be able to hear you and react accordingly. Remember, encryption is illegal in the amateur service.
For that matter, your permission to use the amateur radio service is granted to you by the government, which is (as you have been complaining about almost continuously since January 20th) is now under the direction of President Obama. If you think Obama is going to shut up Rush Limbaugh, or other conservatives, by force, it's not really that much more of a reach for you to conclude that he'll also revoke your ham radio license.
I, for one, would like for the amateur service to be free of political considerations that don't directly relate to the amateur radio service. I know that my politics differ from those of many of my fellows in the ham radio hobby, but I would like to think that we can set aside our political differences in favor of our shared passion for radio, at least whenever we're in the shack and in the club meeting hall. There's plenty of other places you can talk politics.
More practically, our dear conservative friend should be reminded that there are also liberals in the ranks of amateur radio operators, and we will be able to hear you and react accordingly. Remember, encryption is illegal in the amateur service.
For that matter, your permission to use the amateur radio service is granted to you by the government, which is (as you have been complaining about almost continuously since January 20th) is now under the direction of President Obama. If you think Obama is going to shut up Rush Limbaugh, or other conservatives, by force, it's not really that much more of a reach for you to conclude that he'll also revoke your ham radio license.
I, for one, would like for the amateur service to be free of political considerations that don't directly relate to the amateur radio service. I know that my politics differ from those of many of my fellows in the ham radio hobby, but I would like to think that we can set aside our political differences in favor of our shared passion for radio, at least whenever we're in the shack and in the club meeting hall. There's plenty of other places you can talk politics.
There is already one possible legal ground for shutting down ham radio in the USA that has not been invoked. The President would not even have to dance around the First Amendment's protections of free speech to use it. All he has to do is declare a wartime emergency and ban all unsanctioned ham radio transmissions.
ReplyDeletePolitics and religion.. two topics I purposefully will not discuss on the air.
ReplyDelete...pretty much leaves the weather to talk about, and that gets old. ;)
This is what I like about contesting, you get all of the benefit of making the contact and testing your station capabilities without the awkwardness of having to duck out of a conversation gone south with some guy (or gal) who decides to push his agenda out there.
73 DE KB9JHU
Yes, I have recently come to the same conclusion about contesting. But it is really too bad that it comes down to that. Amateur radio provides such a great opportunity for open and forward thinking conversation on a worldwide basis. It's a shame that this is ruined by those few who refuse to use anything but their 1Hz filters.
Delete@DaveNF2G: Interestingly, I have a copy of the 1943 ARRL handbook (which once belonged to a C. R. Morton, C/JX161509 - an armed forces number?). I could go off on one about how I wonder what combination of circumstances led to it being in an Oxfam bookshop in Glasgow's Byres Road some 65 years later, but that's for another day.
ReplyDeleteThe opening lines of Chapter One - Amateur Radio read:
"Someday the war will be over...
Someday we'll be on the air again....
In tens upon tens of thousands of minds this thought is dailey echoed, for to a hundred thousand people the world over amateur radio represents the most satisfying, the most exciting, the most worthwhile of all hobbies. To communicate freely with other amateurs the world around at the mere touch of key or microphone switch, on home-owned and usually home-built equipment was for many years the supreme thrill to thousands of private citizens in every country on earth. Such freedom of communication, however, is characteristic of peace; it cannot continue in time of war. Thus, until peace again returns, amateur radio can exist only in the hearts of its followers, waiting for that day when free institutions may again flourish, when free men again walk in in safety and confidence, when free speech is restored to all the peoples of the eather, and when free communication between them again becomes not a dream of the future but a matter-of-fact reality."
wow this is a great conversation!
ReplyDeleteUsing ham radio to organize is a great idea. As you will remember, the Student Information Net on ham radio was very effective. The time is now to once again start a net.
ReplyDeleteBob
What's the Student Information Net?
ReplyDeleteI agree with trying to keep politics out of it. Politics has become nasty, and we're subjected to it 24 hours a day via television and commercial radio to an extent that it's difficult to receive broadcast content at all while avoiding it.
ReplyDeleteIf people could have rational discourse and actually *listen* to each other's points and actually *consider* what they're argument is then we could have politics on ham bands, but as has been proven, people are only interested in broadcasting their views and hearing the views that they directly agree with. That's not communication.
-KD7RJC
As long as it's legal if you do not want to participate, then don't. If you want to use amateur radio for this, then do it. I've had enough of people trying to push their agenda on everyone else. It's simple: if you don't like it and it's legal, then don't listen. Why do you want to push your idea of ham radio on everyone else?
ReplyDeleteLike you said, it's simple. Shut your mouths about politics and religion on ham radio and keep your ideas and agendas to yourself. Use it wisely to further yours and others education about the hobby or something else of a constructive nature. There are kids out there that don't need to hear some nobody, with their BS talking about things they would never understand or be able to do. And most importantly, stop letting other nations hear how dysfunctional we are.
ReplyDelete