monitorman
Member
- Joined
- Aug 5, 2006
- Messages
- 151
What do you other hams think, is the arrl worth belonging too?
"Worth it" is subjective. A lot of people gauge "worth it" by the personal benefits they get. Others gauge it by what benefits the organisation provides to the hobby. I know of no other special interest or hobby organisation of the sort, besides the NRA, that provides near the benefit that the ARRL does. They provide a wealth of educational materials to the entire hobby. They administrate the hobby itself pretty much, since the FCC is too busy and/or disinterested in doing it. And they provide professional representation for us to the government, helping to assure our interests -- including the spectrum -- are protected. Well worth it, if you ask me, whether they send me personally anything cool in the mail or not.
Quite awhile back. Before the elimination of the CW requirement, when new membership was at it's lowest. Just shows to go you that there is strength in numbers, and if membership falls, so does our power.that's why they lost the portion of the 220 Band a while back??
that's why they lost the portion of the 220 Band a while back??
Prior to that decision by the FCC, amateur radio was a secondary user on 220-225 MHz. After that decision, amateur radio is primary on 222-225. Yes, amateur radio lost 2 megahertz of spectrum. But amateur radio gained exclusive use of the remaining 3 MHz.that's why they lost the portion of the 220 Band a while back??
"Worth it" is subjective. A lot of people gauge "worth it" by the personal benefits they get. Others gauge it by what benefits the organisation provides to the hobby. I know of no other special interest or hobby organisation of the sort, besides the NRA, that provides near the benefit that the ARRL does. They provide a wealth of educational materials to the entire hobby. They administrate the hobby itself pretty much, since the FCC is too busy and/or disinterested in doing it. And they provide professional representation for us to the government, helping to assure our interests -- including the spectrum -- are protected. Well worth it, if you ask me, whether they send me personally anything cool in the mail or not.
Back to my original point, can you define "benefit"? What do you need to see to call it a benefit? Do you want them to send you a cheque every month, or what?I just dont personally see what the benefit is other than the fact you can say "Im a member"
Hello.
ARRL is now pushing D-STAR in the simplex portions of 2 meters calling it something other than what it is, a repeater.
I like P-25 mo' better, as this allows for both Analog as well as Digital.
But, that is a regular repeater.
Call a D-Star repeater what it is, a repeater, and stuff it in the same pairs as any other repeater.
I couldnt say whether its worth it to be a member of ARRL or not, especially when one will spend 100 bucks on a scanner antenna. I just dont personally see what the benefit is other than the fact you can say "Im a member"
About it being a dying art -- it may be. Then again someone will always want to experiment with RF -- so unless America goes down the last tube of corporatism and they auction off the last piece of band... we'll still have something. Further, most amateurs don't get involved with radio until they're old farts anyhow. As it stands, I'm young at 23 years old. I'll likely outlive many of you older operators. If the hobby does die, at least I'll have the honor of operating until they shut the doors -- which would be fun to do. Keep operating until someone tells me to get off their frequency!I agree they provide alot of educational material, but they charge for it........ham radio is a dying art, i wish i would have got to it earlier in life. the average age of the hams in my area is 70 yrs old, membership in the local ham club are few.
there were about 4 operators there under a tent, Im sure theres much more out there on the HF frequencies to explore, and one day I hope to earn the general class,