Gor#f@mit-eddie.ARPA (02/22/85)
To New Hampshire Hams:
Ham call plates ARE vanity plates. They serve no purpose but to
boost the ego of their owner. There is nothing wrong with that. I
have call plates. They are one of my toys. I pay for my toys, but
I don't want to pay for other peoples toys. Don't ask the taxpayers
to subsidize your toys.
If the reasons that you choose to live in New Hampshire include
the fact that our government costs are so low that we have a budget
surplus with no state income tax and no state sales tax, then you
cannot, in good conscience, support the moves to make ham call plates
"special"(==cheap==subsidized). If you want special interest groups
to dictate your tax rate, you aren't likely to be happy in this state
anyway.
If National Guard plates serve no useful purpose either, then you
thrust should be to have their special status eliminated, not to put
your own hand in the til. If they do serve a purpose (I don't know
that), then whether they should be given a reduced rate or should
be reimbursed directly by the Guard is a separate debate.
If ARRL really is supporting this foolishness, then shame on
them!
I urge you to write the governor and your state representatives
and register your opposition, as a ham, to casting ham radio in the
roll of another special interest group with its hand out. All that
we should ask of out governments is the continued use of our fre-
quencies. That is plenty to be grateful for already.
Sincerely,
Bill Freeman, KE1Grturner@amc-hq.arpa (Richard G. Turner //CCTO USARI//) (02/22/85)
The situation you describe, where Amateur Plates are considered public service plates, is true for Virginia. Virginia requires (or still did the last time I checked) that a vehicle carrying an Amateur Radio plate have working communications gear. You were also required to turn in your plates if you were without such gear for longer than 90 days. The law wouldn't allow holders of Novice licenses to obtain Amateur plates because of their perceived inability to provide mobile communications... even though I have run into at least one Ham who did mobile CW. The Virginia State Police WILL use you in an emergency situation if they see Amateur Plates on your car. One of our club members, coming upon a traffic accident, was signaled to the side of the road by one of Virginia's finest. He expected to be asked for communications help, but was asked to help push one of the vehicles out of the roadway. That's public service! -rick ps. I wasn't able to convince my mailer to send directly to the MIT-* addressees that posted the original messages concerning amateur plates as vanity plates. -rt
jhs%Mitre-Bedford@d3unix.UUCP (02/22/85)
Oboy, another HOT CONTROVERSY !!! Ham plates are NOT just vanity plates !! What if some constable finds that his radio just went out and he needs a HAM to patch him through to his home precinct? What T H E N ? ? ? If the next passing ham doesn't have his callsign plates on because he is too destitute to pay "vanity" rates for them, the public interest will be poorly served indeed! Or what if some little old lady gets run down by a car and wants to flag down the next passing ham to call for help for her? Wouldn't HER interests be better served by allowing Joe Ham to have callsign plates at discount rates? C'mon, guys (and gals!) -- let's get another barrage of flame-type messages (known in the good old daze as diatribes) going! -de W3IKG
ron@brl-tgr.ARPA (Ron Natalie <ron>) (02/25/85)
My problem is that I can't get tags for my car bearing both the fire department insignia and my call letters. I have to choose one or the other. Even though FD tags are 4 dollars cheaper a year I go for HAM TAGS. More indicative of who I am, but I am always explaining to gas station attendants what they are as they write them down on the credit slip. There are also legal reasons why I want to keep my anonymity about being a fire fighter while driving down the road. -Ron
doug@terak.UUCP (Doug Pardee) (02/27/85)
> Ham plates are NOT just vanity plates !! What if some constable finds that > his radio just went out and he needs a HAM to patch him through to his home > precinct? What T H E N ? ? ? If the next passing ham doesn't have his > callsign plates on because he is too destitute to pay "vanity" rates for them, > the public interest will be poorly served indeed! C'mon, let's get serious. If we really want to claim that we should have cut-rate vanity plates because "we can perform a communications service", then CB'ers are even more entitled. While it is only a minority of hams who actually have mobile equipment, the vast majority of CB'ers are mobile-only. In addition you'll find a great number of radio-dispatched business vehicles on the road. Should they get cut-rate plates too? And how about cars equipped with mobile telephones? Especially the new cellular phones which provide a much more flexible and convenient communications service than ham radio? Should you get a cut-rate vanity plate if you have a mobile phone? The days of hams having a monopoly on civilian mobile radio equipment are long gone. The days of hams regularly "serving the public interest" never existed to begin with. Let's face reality, and behave like the "responsible citizens" that we like to think we are. ----- Doug, N7FB -- Doug Pardee -- Terak Corp. -- !{hao,ihnp4,decvax}!noao!terak!doug
cjl@ecsvax.UUCP (Charles Lord) (03/04/85)
"No more right than CBers" ?
"Hams no longer perform public service" ?
Where does this guy come from? Speaking for the local
Amateur ops that have been the ONLY communications links
in local disasters ( and we get our share!)-
YOU'RE FULL OF IT!
Charles wd4chwdoug@terak.UUCP (Doug Pardee) (03/11/85)
> "No more right than CBers" ? > > "Hams no longer perform public service" ? > > Where does this guy come from? Speaking for the local > Amateur ops that have been the ONLY communications links > in local disasters ( and we get our share!)- Gosh, did the police, fire, ambulance, power company, and phone company radio systems all go out at once? Did the REACT people all hide? Or (more likely) were the hams so "full of themselves" that they didn't notice that almost everyone was communicating fine without their help? > YOU'RE FULL OF IT! My apologies if I offended you. Unfortunately, it is indeed the few hams who *are* still involved in public service that would be offended. But even then, only if they refuse to acknowledge the reality -- that the times have changed, that hams have abandoned public service activity, and that other services have stepped in. These services can do a better job (because of sheer number of units) than hams could ever hope to do. I speak from the position of one who spent many years in ham radio public service, including a few years as regular NCS on WESCARS, and many years regular participation in NTS, including PAN NCS and a brief stint on TCC (including an all-nighter during a major East-coast disaster). I mourn the passing of an era, one that gave me considerable enjoyment and fulfillment. But I cannot deny its passing. de n7fb -- Doug Pardee -- Terak Corp. -- !{hao,ihnp4,decvax}!noao!terak!doug
jhs%Mitre-Bedford@d3unix.UUCP (03/15/85)
Re: The passing of amateur radio importance in emergency communictions. The DoD and the National Communications System, among others, disagree with you vehemently. See recent, current and future ARRL bulletings and news items for further details. 73, John S, W3IKG