wjm@whuxl.UUCP (MITCHELL) (11/30/84)
<gulp,gulp,gulp, CHOMP>
I won't bore the readers of net.ham-radio with a repeat of what amateur (ham)
radio is -- it would take too long to cover all the facets of this wide-ranging
intersting national resource, which is also a fascinating hobby -- besides
many of us are hams already. However, I'll be glad to discuss ham radio with
anyone (including the licensing requirements) via email (address is
{ihnp4|or your favorite gateway machine}!lcuxc!wjm).
I also won't repeat my general comments about CB ("Children's Band") since I
don't use that kind of language either on the air (which is illegal) or on the
Usenet.
Personally, I think the idea of CB was reasonable - provide the general public
with a group of radio frequencies they could use for such things as calling for
help when they break down on a deserted road, talking to other travellers to
break the monotony of long trips -- certainly a boon for truckers, and telling
ones boss/spouse that one will be late due to traffic jams. It also is useful
for very small businesses (like one or two car taxi companies) who cannot afford
and don't need the higher power and more elaborate equipment of land mobile VHF
business band radio and for radio control hobbists.
The vast majority of law-abiding CB'ers who operate within the FCC rules for
CB prove this point. Also, no discussion of CB would be complete without
mention of REACT, an organization which uses CB for public service and
emergency communications purposes. I'd like to take this opportunity to
commend the REACT teams for a job well done, as well as invite them to join
the ranks of the many hams who use the greater capabilities of ham radio for
these purposes.
However, I think the implementation stinks. CB should have been put in a region
where skip is very rare, such as an unused UHF television channel (perhaps
take over channel 70, just below the celluar mobile phone frequencies?)
Admittedly, UHF equipment costs more than the 27Mhz gear, but the potential
for much of the abuse is eliminated - it is less likely that illegally modified
gear will even work, much less splatter QRM into TV's and audio gear (something
we hams often get a bum rap for - and I sometimes get a CB'er in my stereo
system to boot (usually due to front end overload as they're driving down the
street)!).
However, 27 MHz CB exists, so what can we do about it?
Probably the two greatest abuses are 1) the characters who operate over power
with illegally modified ham linear amplifiers and 2) the sewer-mouths who
put all kinds of "air pollution" (4 letter words) on 27MHz, use Channel 9
for chit-chat, and generally sneer at the rules.
The cure for #2 is what we use on the ham bands - self policing. Law abiding
CB'ers should set up somthing like the ARRL's OO teams (perhaps REACT could
do this) and report violaters to the FCC. Peer pressure could be useful here,
if no one talked to these clowns, they'd probably clean up their act.
My suggestion for #1 is that dealers refuse to sell radio equipment to anyone
UNLESS the purchaser shows a valid license for said equipment from the FCC
(or appropriate national licensing body). Therefore, you would have to
show the dealer a ham ticket in order to buy a linear.
In summary, there is a place for both ham radio and CB, although I'd like
to see CB cleaned up. I also oppose any expansion of the current CB band
unless it can be demonstrated that there is a clear need for more than 40
channels. Any expansion should take the form of moving the ENTIRE CB band
to a UHF TV channel, even though this means the existing equipment is obsolete.
The permanent gain would offset the temporary inconvenience.
I'd also like to see the use of AM terminated on CB -- SSB would provide 80
channels in the current frequency assignments, and relieve any congestion.
These are strictly my personal opinions, and not those of my employer.
Regards,
Bill Mitchell, WB2IAU ({ihnp4!}lcuxc!wjm}