[Mgs] MG's...and Ham Radio......

[Rick Lindsay]

--- Steve <temporarilyoffline at gmail.com> wrote:

> Beyond the merits of just playing with electronics,
> what's the big deal?  I don't know enough to see 
> the purpose of it all.  Help a brother out.

   Certainly. The amateur radio service was put in
place, way in the past, to provide a league of
knowledgable radio operators and a communication
service within the general public.  A collection of
trained amateurs, if you will.  Of course, that was an
era without 200+ channel TV satellite receivers in
every home, tens-of-thousands of AM and FM radios,
mobile phones with worldwide connectivity and the
Internet.  Still, Dr. Who said, "The more advanced the
technology, the more suseptable it is to primative
attack."  One might include the meyheim of natural
disaster in the definition of 'primative attack'.
  For years, amateur radio operators have been the
backbone of emergency communications.  When all the
commercial services failed in national and
international disasters, the amateur radio operators
were there.  Okay, so much of the history.
   
   Today, amateur radio provides a hobby for basically
three kinds of folks; those who like to chat, those
who want to play with electronics and those who enjoy
the challenge of telecommunications with limited
resources.  I started out in group two and migrated to
group three.  I volunteer for the subject of the last
paragraph of this note, but mostly I like CW, or in
layman-speak, Morse code at QRP or low power. Its
kinda like cars and racing: How fast do you want to
go?  It just takes money (Enzo versus Triumph.)  I
enjoy the other end of that spectrum.  (I mean, this
is the MG list, not the Ferrari or Porsche list.)  I
use the cheapest, simplest, lowest power transmitters
that still effectively communicate.  To me, amateur
radio is about communication with electromagnetic
radiation, not about interfacing your computer to the
transmitter or video chats.  Still, the hobby supports
all of the above and I do not negate any of them.
   
   In our motorsport/hobby, amateur radio operators
provide communications for much of amateur motorsport.
 Hams provide all of the radio coordination for
rallye, right up to the nationals.  I sometimes
participate in that area.

regards,

rick / wd4kib / MGB / etc.