parnass@ihu1h.UUCP (Bob Parnass, AJ9S) (02/05/85)
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Differences Between SWLs and Hams
Here is an interesting passage from Bennett and Helms' "The
Complete Shortwave Listener's Handbook - 2nd Edition":
"The average person nowadays,though, seems to have a
built-in bit of knowledge that, to him, means that
anyone with a shortwave radio of any kind is automati-
cally a ham radio operator. This is one of the most
erroneous impressions that I have ever run up
against....."
"Oftentimes the average person, when encountering an
SWL, will ask the SWL why he doesn't get a license and
actually get on the air for two-way contacts. For the
SWL to reply that he doesn't want to might give the
impression that he's too good for that sort of thing;
for the SWL to say that he can't would leave a strong
impression with the average person that he (the SWL) is
too dumb to get a license. Both impressions are
totally incorrect. In my own 30 years of being a ham
radio operator, I have had the opportunity of meeting
large numbers of SWLs, and I know for a positive fact
that the great majority of them prefer to simply
listen, rather than engage in on-the-air communica-
tions. Like the baseball fan who'd rather watch than
play, radio is a spectator sport to the SWL."
"Admittedly, there are many SWLs who cannot get a
license, but it usually is not due to any lack of abil-
ity...."
"...the average SWL is perfectly content to be a
listener, and believe me, some of them are real
addicts! The SWL, more often than not, continues to be
actively engaged in the hobby and many of them eventu-
ally go on to the ham radio portion of the hobby. Con-
versely, I know of a number of ham radio operators who,
for various reasons of their own, have elected to let
their ham radio licenses lapse, after which they once
again become active SWLs. In most cases, it was lear-
ned that they found a preference for the one-way aspect
of the hobby. Experience has also proven that many ham
radio operators continue to be active SWLs. This fact
is confirmed by the considerable number of ham radio
operators who, through the years, have reported on
shortwave station reception to my columns and to the
shortwave stations themselves in the form of reception
reports."
Hank Bennett is well known in SWL circles. He was has been
licensed as W2PNA since 1939. For over 30 years, he has
been editor of the shortwave department of the Newark News
Radio Club. If you don't remember reading his monthly SWL
column in the old Popular Electronics (RIP - ed.), you can
read his columns in Monitoring Times.
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Bob Parnass, Bell Telephone Laboratories - ihnp4!ihu1h!parnass - (312)979-5414