lbv@sdchema.UUCP (12/13/83)
Those with some experience in the VHF/UHF end of the Service
saw this fiasco building from quite a ways back down the road. There are
no surprises here; I went through the dress rehersal about 10 years ago.
At that time I was trustee for the "first" 2 meter repeater in my
area. It was the beginning of an era of transition. Prior to 1973
those who wanted to play around with Amateur "repeaters" bought up
surplus "highband" taxicab radios, rextaled and retuned them, and
put them on the air. To be fair, most hams usually watched as a
more experienced friend tuned and installed their first working
2 meter FM radio, but by their time their 3rd or 4th radio went into
service, most were capable of "doing it themselves". For $25-50
invested in an old boat-anchor, $15 in a set of crystals, occasional
maintainance work and some luck, we all were "talking on the radio".
The price of admission was the willingness to work and to learn.
Then, of course, the "10 watt wonders" arrived from the land of the
rising sun. We called them "Riceboxes" or "JapTracs" (appologies to
Motorola). Quickly enough the price of admission became the ability
to write a check; no knowledge required.
"Never mind", said the check-writers, "that we don't really understand
how our equipment works.....we are 'communicators', not engineers.
We will provide the corps of 'trained operators' to meet any
communications need".
It also happened, at that time, that the repeater group took on a
committment to provide emergency communications for a local public service
agency, principally during the frequent brush fires that occur
during the late Fall. I served, for a while, as coordinator of
this activity, and I had numerous occasions to activate the emergency
net. It was, as they say, a "learning experience".
I found, while running this *directed & disciplined net*----much to
my surprise----that the sub-set of the local operators who caught on
to the idea of net discipline and precision communications were
(GENERALLY) the "technical types", the very ones who were constantly
building and tearing through the latest "boat anchor" they could
locate. The 'communicators' were (GENERALLY) complete busts at
their 'speciality'. They could waste more precious net time
with their superfluous blabberings and their inability to adapt to
any "out of the ordinary" demands.
Time progressed and the technical types slowly abandoned 2 meters
as the numbers and influence of the pure "communicators" grew.
As a consequence, the average level of technical understanding
on the band began a gradual, continuing decline.
I (and others) no longer operate on 2 meters, and I have no interest in returning
to that band. But I am in no way surprised by the idiotic foulups
that occured during the flight of the Columbia..
FLAME ON
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How much (expletives deleted) "technical ability" does it really
take to read and digest the operating schedules (published endlessly)
for Columbia in advance? To grasp the idea of a "communications protocol"?
To understand what the front panel controls on a simple 2 meter
radio do, and how to conform them to that protocol (it's unrealistic
to expect today's "ham" to understand how the components behind
the front pannel behave, but must he be ignorant of
the frontside controls as well)?
WHAT A DISGRACE THIS ENTIRE EPISODE HAS BECOME!
What a disgrace to our Service, which went before the news media,
both local and national, and presented a picture of belligerent
incompetence! What a disgrace for W5LFL, a trained and disciplined
professional, to have to attempt to communicate with a flock
composed of substantial numbers of incompetent boobs! What a
disgrace to the FCC, who probably want to strike #97.1 from
their Rules!
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For the sake of whatever credibility our Service still retains, I
hope that there will be no further ARS operations from Columbia or
Challenger.
More in sadness than in anger,
Gordon Schlesinger, WA6LBV
Dept. of Chemistry,
University of California at San Diego
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