Wish I had the guts to post this to the list, but why start wwIII? Random
Thoughts-some related to your post, most not.
Why do we always have to "contribute to ham radio"? I know the League is on
a campaign to push the fact that we are a service, not a hobby. Yet, in my
limited experience, it is first a hobby, and secondly a "service" in order
to justify our existence. Some of us like to tinker with old tube rigs and
operate AM, others with the latest offering from TenTec, and others with
collecting the biggest pile of TenTec manufactured equipment possible. I
have even heard talk of a small group of remaining hams that actually like
to communicate with the equipment they own! (gasp) . I heard once of a ham
who actually admitted to owning some Japanese manufactured equipment, but it
was a shameful admission. Today's kids are lazy? I think not. They just
understand from birth that there are easy ways to do physical chores if you
just think about it for a while. If my father had the choice of digging a
hole with a backhoe or a shovel....he would hand me a shovel and head
inside. Cheaper than fuel. My son would probably mix up a batch of
ammonium nitrite and diesel and make a hole real quick like. (I let him
read my Ducks Unlimited magazine where they carefully spelled out the
formula for making breeding ponds!)(we have a new pond now) (it looks pretty
good now that we have new glass in the windows)
As far as the Internet being an awful scourge on amateur radio---look
at us-we are the enemy, if that is the case. I have spent at least an hour
today reading this list, and not one moment on the radio. Yet, I am a ham.
(why is a $1k computer expensive and a $3k Ten-Tec reasonable?)
Let's accept that each of us is unique, with individual desires as to
what we either leave the hobby with, or take with us out of the hobby. Some
like to pass traffic (to me, passing gas is much more enjoyable), some like
to work DX (those guys can't hardly say much more than "599", "TU")(The
deserving deserve each other), some do contests...I ask "why?"... Some
polish new radios to a blinding shine and bask in the glory of ownership.
Some spill coffee on their $10k rigs while soldering up some five dollar qrp
rig.... We all have fun, and we are all brothers for some strange reason.
Yea, I guess it's we get a kick out of our own enjoyment of our own piece of
this service. 73 ...-.- ..
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