15-02-2014, 06:16 PM
There are all sorts of people in Amateur Radio as in every other hobby. The techies, the people who use it to learn, the people who use it a social platform and of course the misfits.
The start of any problems of the type that he talks about began with Legal CB in the UK - 1981. Before that, yes it was illegal but they policed the band themselves and any 'mike keyers' or 'music players' would get their rig thrown in a bucket of water while still switched on.
When CB became legal in 1981, before long, the cities were full of kids and housewives and all sorts on CB and it went down pretty fast. Here in Bolton there was a red light channel!! Some then migrated to Illegal CB's which were AM and SSB and covered usually the band below the Amateur 10 metre band. This was because the Legal 40, as they were known, were so full of these idiots.
A CB lingo developed here which was partly nicked from Amateur Radio and the aim was to pass the Amateur Licence and go on 2 metres. With the CB lingo in some cases. CQ CQ CQ DX.... etc to talk to anyone. Some of these people burned out (lost interest, in English) and some carried on, and it is these that now are the problem.
The UK bands are now fairly quiet as the idiots are all Facetwitting.
Amateur Radio will go back to normal in time, but if people don't like the way it is now, then maybe it's not for them and they should leave. Nobody forces them to do this at all, it's not a legal requirement!
OFCOM could do more, as the biggest problem facing Amateurs now is not the codes they use but the problems of those cheap power supplies and some energy saving bulbs.
Cheers,
Steve P.
The start of any problems of the type that he talks about began with Legal CB in the UK - 1981. Before that, yes it was illegal but they policed the band themselves and any 'mike keyers' or 'music players' would get their rig thrown in a bucket of water while still switched on.
When CB became legal in 1981, before long, the cities were full of kids and housewives and all sorts on CB and it went down pretty fast. Here in Bolton there was a red light channel!! Some then migrated to Illegal CB's which were AM and SSB and covered usually the band below the Amateur 10 metre band. This was because the Legal 40, as they were known, were so full of these idiots.
A CB lingo developed here which was partly nicked from Amateur Radio and the aim was to pass the Amateur Licence and go on 2 metres. With the CB lingo in some cases. CQ CQ CQ DX.... etc to talk to anyone. Some of these people burned out (lost interest, in English) and some carried on, and it is these that now are the problem.
The UK bands are now fairly quiet as the idiots are all Facetwitting.
Amateur Radio will go back to normal in time, but if people don't like the way it is now, then maybe it's not for them and they should leave. Nobody forces them to do this at all, it's not a legal requirement!
OFCOM could do more, as the biggest problem facing Amateurs now is not the codes they use but the problems of those cheap power supplies and some energy saving bulbs.
Cheers,
Steve P.
If we've always had that, why is the car boot open? You aren't smuggling in another old TV are you...?
