jhs@mitre-bedford.ARPA (10/16/85)
A friend of mine, Jack Carroll, AB1Z, has written a paper called "Calling In The Hams: A Manual for Public Safety Officials and Public Event Organizers" -- or something approximating that title. Information on obtaining a copy is available from Jack at 275 Evergreen St., Bedford, MA 01730. He may ask for cost of copying and postage if he gets inundated with requests. Incidentally, I have found that people recognize the term "ham radio" as something different than CB, whereas the seemingly more dignified "Amateur Radio" is more often confused with CB or perhaps pirate broadcasting. I was pleased to note that the newscasters IMMEDIATELY mentioned ham radio as a possible link to Mexico City after the recent earthquake. We are getting some serious recognition these days, usually under the name "ham radio". A final plug: All you hams out there in Net-land please consider your responsibility to do at least a little public service work from time to time. I used to think helping with parades and boat races was silly, but I have become convinced that (a) it is good PR to preserve our special treatment with regard to spectrum space and (b) it is the best way to shake out the bugs and learn what works and what the problems are in field operations. It's a darn good idea to do your learning when your help is OPTIONAL rather than when lives hang in the balance and seconds count. Besides, it's fun to get out and do these things. My advice is: unless you are medically unable to help out, you should try to participate in AT LEAST ONE public service operation per year. That's not much to ask of you in return for our precious spectrum allocations. 73, John S., W3IKG
edm@copper.UUCP (Ed Morin) (10/21/85)
I too think that it is important for us hams to get out and do some public service once in a while. I have worked the Portland Rose Parade several years and had a blast doing it. Sometimes we had jerks for net control and post operators, but better to learn how to make a net successful when its all for fun rather than when its for lives. Besides, if you plan a mass pizza party afterwards, it makes for even more fun... '73, Ed Morin (WB7UBD) decvax!tektronix!azure!edm
john@anasazi.UUCP (John Moore) (10/22/85)
In article <2188@brl-tgr.ARPA> jhs@mitre-bedford.ARPA writes: >Incidentally, I have found that people recognize the term "ham radio" as >something different than CB, whereas the seemingly more dignified "Amateur >Radio" is more often confused with CB or perhaps pirate broadcasting. >I was pleased to note that the newscasters IMMEDIATELY mentioned ham radio >as a possible link to Mexico City after the recent earthquake. We are getting >some serious recognition these days, usually under the name "ham radio". I strongly agree! We must use the term "ham radio" (or radio afficionados - sp) if we want the public to know who we are. The term "amateur" is presumably used to indicate "not an avocation", but most folks interpret it as "incompetent". So unless we want to be known as "incompetent radio operators" we should use another term. > >A final plug: All you hams out there in Net-land please consider your >responsibility to do at least a little public service work from time to time. Even if you don't get satisfaction out of these activities (and they are usually lots of fun), you should recognize that our $500 BILLION worth of spectrum is justified to a large extent by our public service and emergency activities. Ignoring these responsibilities means that the next time someone wants to ban our antennas or snatch our frequencies or impose quiet hours, we don't have much of an argument. DXing or rag-chewing or experimenting do not by themselves justify the priviledges that we have. I also recommend that if you participate in these activities, do your best to get publicity and written thanks for your efforts. These will come in handy the next time you get into a fight over your priviledges. Don't be shy or think that it's crass - just look how hard the Red Cross, Sal Army, etc work to get publicity for their efforts - they even run advertisements on TV. They know that without publicity they cannot continue doing their good work. We should feel the same way. I think that the Mexico City disaster showed the best of ham radio, and also got us more favorable publicity than any event in recent memory. If we want to be able to continue to help in the future like we did in Mexico, we need to keep the public aware of our efforts in order to maintain our priviledges. 73, -- John Moore (NJ7E/XE1HDO) {decvax|ihnp4|hao}!noao!terak!anasazi!john {hao!noao|decvax|ihnp4|seismo}!terak!anasazi!john (602) 952-8205 (day or evening) 5302 E. Lafayette Blvd, Phoenix, Az, 85018 (home address)