Winston wrote:
>...It seems to me that a simple requirement of having to have a ham
license to buy one would be good enough to keep them from the illegal market.
--If that were the case, there wouldn't be so many SB220's on 11m... not to
mention all the garage-built '5-pill' 4CX250b machines that are essentially
commercially-marketed through the 'CB subculture'.
Unfortunately, I observed a transaction one month ago, where several known
non-hams, and one known ham of substantially-lacking ethics purchased a
nice homebrew twin 811A 10m machine, carried it out, and put it in his
good-buddy's car. Now, this is the same ham who's put 2m rigs in his
friends' hands for their 'personal' use, and when warned away from a 2m
simplex frequency, he simply moved their operation to the essentially
unregulated Marine VHF band. Under an interesting twist, he also happens
to be involved with a local Public Broadcast station. Note that two of the
individuals are convicted felons who posess firearms. In this case, the
innocent vendor did everything right. When an unscrupulous individual is
involved, It just doesn't take much to make a big mess in a short time.
Yes, the police are aware, as well as the Commission. They're not doing
anything yet, hopefully it'll change (hopefully they'll make the mistake of
moving their operation to Marine VHF ch 22A...) Just enough rope... ???
Although it's far-fetched, I think the solution is simple- eliminate 11m
AM operation altogether- ban it, and return the band to Amateur allocation.
In replacement, offer 5w of NFM operation (mobile or base) on two FRS/GMRS
frequencies, and allow external antennas, but no microphone-alterers or
other 'features', and make the radio automatically ID it's serial-number or
some other method. Mebbie that isn't the 'best' solution, but it's the
quickest thing I can dream up without refilling my glass of Cream Soda.
Not that our world needs more 'big brother' isms, there's a general
disrespect for not only authority, but also national regulations and
international treaties. Sorry to put all eggs in one basket, because there
are many very nice people in the 11m world, but those who are not only
ignorant, but apathetic about the consequences of their actions will simply
continue to take advantage of the lack of enforcement. Spoil a child
silly, he turns into a brat, mebbie an axe-murderer, or whatever (CEO?
lawyer? politician?)...
I think it's unfortunate that we can't buy amps that fit the QRP rigs we
love, and although the rule is somewhat stupid, it at least gives what
little enforcement exists, the ability to put teeth into all the 357-Mag
and Texas Star amplifiers found at hamfest tables everywhere. Rediculously
enough, these little garage-factory amplifiers would be rightly nice for
QRP use, when given some quality re-engineering, however, ask a CB-stuff
vendor what a 100w 'un-linear' goes for, you'll get an answer that'd knock
your socks off. I had a regular-guy-CB-vendor try and hawk SEVERAL levels
of these machines ("Guaranteed 500w on Channel 19") for several minutes.
He also had an SB220... in very bad shape, but had a $1500 price tag on it.
A year ago, I sold mine (in lieu of my Centurion) to another ham for $400.
Not only did I give him a great deal, he also got an amp with a brand new
bank of HV caps, bleeders, the Rectifier-Metering board, soft-keying kit,
and a new fan motor. The grey-market demand is just immensely strong... so
much that we HAMS can only aid in enforcement by BUYING up all those HAM
amps which ended up in 11m service. Far-fetched, no?
Sorry for the rant... I accept all flames, but please send 'em direct and
spare the reflector...
DK :-\
73's from KW0D Dave in LeClaire, Iowa
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