Flame suit on........ (I DO NOT promote such activity, but I am also not
blind to the real world!)
I love listening to fellow hams complain about CBers encroaching on 10 or
12m. Hams just love to "blame CBers" for all bad and evil that happens on
the ham bands. Wake up and listen to 75m one evening! It makes the CB
freebanders sound like pros!
The situation is hyped up to be worse than it really is. In the 15 yrs as a
ham I have been very active on 10m, and in all those years have heard maybe
5 incidents of CBers encroaching 10m, down around 28.05 or so. Four of
these cases were taxi/livery drivers in the NYC area. And thanks to a ham (I
think it was W6TER (in 2-lander at the time) in the NYC area, a few local
"busts" which involved the TLC & FCC cleaned up the problem. This was in
the heavily populated NYC area. I can't imagine it being any worse anywhere
else in the country. Oh-yes, and a few Spanish-speaking stations when the
band opens up. And it isn't the amplifiers that put them on the ham bands.
Their amp was just an addition to their operation.
The CBers that are buying these high-price "ham" amplifiers are operating
them with more skill than the average ham, stay within the so-called
"freeband (26-28MHz), and know where/how to operate without attracting
unnecessary attention (i.e.: 28.0-29.7 MHz, 24.5 MHz). Some are hams
themselves. Some have even been unfortunate enough to get caught up in it
(look at the recent FCC enforcement logs)
BTW, I'd rather have them using the cleaner ham-grade amplifiers rather than
some of the gray-market wideband and dirty solid state transistor boxes that
are readily available to them.
It amazes me how fellow hams can sit there and put down these "lowly CB
operators", when in fact most of them were CBers at one time and have many
"skeletons in the closet" themselves! Nothing sickens me worse than the
Extra-class ham operators I know who think they are "mightier than thou",
but can't even solder a PL259 connector properly (only one example), yet can
criticize a CBer who knows more about radio than the hams of late.
I was into the CB scene for a good while before ham radio. Let me tell you,
I met many nice people from that arena, even the two hams (elmers) that
sparked my interest into ham radio. To this day we still feel we had more
fun on CB than we do now on the ham bands. Don't get me wrong, I enjoy ham
radio, after all, it's what you make of it. But let's not label all CBers
bad.
As far as the manufacturers are concerned, they will never openly admit it,
but fact be known that the freebander scene accounts for a good portion of
their sales. This also applies to the big three radio manufacturers. Maybe
we should remove general coverage rx from the newer radios as well, avoiding
the possibility that a diode may be cut here or there! No need to have
0-30MHz to accommodate the MARS operators. Most rigs already have enough
overlap to accommodate MARS. Do you really think the manufacturers want to
remove the hidden feature that results in more sales?
Hams should get off of the rules/regs soapbox and start devoting their time
to technical issues. What was the last major contribution to the
communications industry that ham radio has been responsible for? digital
voice transmission ? trunking ? CDMA,TDMA, spread spectrum ? I think
not! The last I can recall was packet radio. Admit it, this hobby is
nothing more than a bunch of glorified appliance operators nowadays. Sad but
true.....
Flame suit off........
73 Eric
KK2ED
----- Original Message -----
From: "michael watts" <wy6k@yahoo.com>
To: <W8JI@contesting.com>; <amps@contesting.com>
Sent: Monday, August 28, 2000 9:05 PM
Subject: RE: [AMPS] 811H's on CB
>
> Hi Tom,
>
> I can't help with the actual legal advice. But if you
> get to the point where you are getting legal advice on
> this issue, you might also investigate the feasibility
> of "terms of sale" that include the provision that the
> amp is only for sale to licensed amateurs and will
> only be repaired when accompanied by proof of
> purchase. I know getting such a "terms of sale"
> document signed might be difficult given the realities
> of distribution. But perhaps notice in the proper
> form will suffice.
>
> If there is any software at all in the unit - say an
> imbedded processor as in the Alpha 87A - perhaps you
> could include these terms in the software license
> agreement.
>
> Mike wy6k
> --- Tom Rauch <w8ji@contesting.com> wrote:
> > > It seems to me that refusing to perform repair
> > work,
> > > whether warranty or not, without proof of a ham
> > > license is a reasonable voluntary action that the
> > amp
> > > makers could engage in. It wouldn't all of the
> > > problem, of course, but it would probably stop
> > some of
> > > it.
> >
> > Some years ago I did that with an amplifier owned by
> > a California
> > lawyer, because he had no license and used the amp
> > to run
> > communications on an amateur band in off road races
> > somewhere
> > in the desert.
> >
> > I knew that because both he and the dealer told me
> > that.
> >
> > When I refused to service his amplifier, he
> > threatened a lawsuit. So
> > I repaired the amplifier and turned him in to the
> > FCC and some
> > group in California that was supposed to look at
> > this sort of
> > problem.
> >
> > My question is, for anyone that knows, is a
> > manufacturer required
> > to repair a device being used illegally? What if
> > that is stated in the
> > terms of warranty?
> >
> >
> > 73, Tom W8JI
> > w8ji@contesting.com
>
>
> __________________________________________________
> Do You Yahoo!?
> Yahoo! Mail - Free email you can access from anywhere!
> http://mail.yahoo.com/
>
> --
> FAQ on WWW: http://www.contesting.com/FAQ/amps
> Submissions: amps@contesting.com
> Administrative requests: amps-REQUEST@contesting.com
> Problems: owner-amps@contesting.com
--
FAQ on WWW: http://www.contesting.com/FAQ/amps
Submissions: amps@contesting.com
Administrative requests: amps-REQUEST@contesting.com
Problems: owner-amps@contesting.com
|