The biggest lie in ham radio

Status
Not open for further replies.

Pete_uk

Member
Joined
Jan 26, 2013
Messages
77
Location
Gloucestershire, England
It does amuse me that so many amateur repeaters share the same masts as commercial and government systems, meaning if the mast gets taken out, it ALL gets taken out!
 

rapidcharger

Member
Joined
Jun 13, 2012
Messages
2,382
Location
The land of broken calculators.
While I don't necessarily disagree with his points, they didn't support his claim about that being the biggest lie in ham radio.

1.) Hams aren't recruited to fight wildfires. They are recruited to provide auxiliary communications and this is definitely not a lie and it definitely can be useful.

2.) The notion that hams are recruited to help in situations that have a relatively low body count and is therefore a lie, isn't relevant. His comparison to the hazards of eating at McDonalds don't involve communications thus, hams would not be recruited to provide communications support.

3.) The claim that the opportunities are minor support roles with hardly any risk to safety is also not relevant. The claim is true but it does not support his position that it's all a bunch of baloney. Of course they are minor support roles with hardly any risk. What did you think it is was for?

4.) The claim that the lure of providing communications support for a relatively rare occurrence is supports that it is all BS does not in fact mean it is BS or that it is untrue. If tornados were so common that we needed a full time militia in every city in America to dig us out from under piles of rubble, I don't think any of us would still be living here. But digging people out from piles of rubble isn't what's in the brochures. Even for rare occurrence there are definitely opportunities to train for and provide auxiliary communications and so this also doesn't back up his claim.

5.) His claim that hams participate more for social reasons does not mean that it's a lie. Some gatherings may appear to be of more of a social nature than strictly business but that doesn't mean they are not able to train for or provide auxiliary communications when and if the time comes.

There are some people who are interested in volunteering to provide support in disease outbreaks. Thankfully those are rare and in recent years in the US, we've been fortunate to not have too many large scale deadly pandemics. But there are unpaid volunteers who train to provide a support role in those. If this guy's arguments were applied to these volunteers or NGOs, you'd quickly see how they could also be fallaciously applied to those volunteers as well. Why are the outbreak responders not saving lives now when we have people being gunned down every day or so many car wrecks? Why are outbreak responders smiling at a training event? Why are outbreak responders eating at McDonalds when that food is unhealthy and leads to things like cardiovascular disease and diabetes? Why are outbreak responders bothering at all when those events are so rare? If outbreak responders are so overweight, why makes anyone think they can volunteer? Why are outbreak responders being lied to that they can make a difference by volunteering?

See what I mean?

I would say that this is probably the biggest marketing point in ham radio, but it's not a lie that these opportunities exist for volunteers to provide auxiliary communications.
His arguments could also be used to discount the need for armed forces but I think most of us agree it's better to have those than to not.

I think the biggest lie in ham radio is that you need a yagi to make more contacts.
 
Last edited:

rapidcharger

Member
Joined
Jun 13, 2012
Messages
2,382
Location
The land of broken calculators.
Why is this still being debated?
I guess because it's radio reference where things get debated until the thread gets locked. I'm surprised that a moderator would start a thread with such taboo subject matter.

As I said before, the guy is not an American nor does he reside in the US. Because of this, he has no credibility.

That's not exactly true. One doesn't have to be an American citizen residing in the US to make the observations that he made nor are the points that he made necessarily untrue. It's just that they don't support his assertion that providing the value of hams providing auxiliary communications is a lie. He didn't say anything that was worthy of being discredited with an ad hominem and by going that route, it makes it look like he did.
 

AK9R

Lead Wiki Manager and almost an Awesome Moderator
Super Moderator
Joined
Jul 18, 2004
Messages
9,290
Location
Central Indiana
I didn't know that talking about the state of amateur radio was a taboo topic.

And, I agree that you don't have to be a U.S. citizen to have an opinion about the state of amateur radio, in the U.S. or anywhere in the world.

As for why it's still being debated, I guess people have different opinions.
 
Last edited:

rapidcharger

Member
Joined
Jun 13, 2012
Messages
2,382
Location
The land of broken calculators.
I didn't know that talking about the state of amateur radio was a taboo topic.
What makes it taboo are some of the somewhat offensive stereotypical items that the creator of the video brought up. Some users have complained it's dragged on too long and it's not staying civil and clearly a large number of the replies take aim at certain members of the hobby and not at the topic of the video. If you hadn't predicted this outcome, I'm surprised.
 

KK4JUG

Member
Premium Subscriber
Joined
Dec 13, 2014
Messages
4,245
Location
GA
If you feel this topic is problematic or are otherwise offended, unsubscribe and don't continue to read the entries. It's not "required reading."
 

bill4long

Member
Joined
Aug 6, 2012
Messages
1,459
Location
Indianapolis
I didn't know that talking about the state of amateur radio was a taboo topic.

Well, technically, we're not talking about the state of ham radio, but what some guy thinks about ARES-type groups.

Most hams have never been, nor ever will be, involved with such groups.
 

k6cpo

Member
Joined
Dec 30, 2013
Messages
1,260
Location
San Diego, CA
I guess because it's radio reference where things get debated until the thread gets locked. I'm surprised that a moderator would start a thread with such taboo subject matter.

That's not exactly true. One doesn't have to be an American citizen residing in the US to make the observations that he made nor are the points that he made necessarily untrue. It's just that they don't support his assertion that providing the value of hams providing auxiliary communications is a lie. He didn't say anything that was worthy of being discredited with an ad hominem and by going that route, it makes it look like he did.

I've noted that Europeans are very quick to criticize the US and/or tell us what they think is best for America. They don't seem to realize that their existence on this earth has been dependent on the United States since 1917. We bailed them out of two world wars and it was only our presence in NATO that kept the Soviet Union from coming through the Fulda Gap in strength.

Average Americans don't spend time telling Europe what they think is best for them and I think it's time for Europeans to do the same for the US.
 

KK4JUG

Member
Premium Subscriber
Joined
Dec 13, 2014
Messages
4,245
Location
GA
I've noted that Europeans are very quick to criticize the US and/or tell us what they think is best for America. They don't seem to realize that their existence on this earth has been dependent on the United States since 1917. We bailed them out of two world wars and it was only our presence in NATO that kept the Soviet Union from coming through the Fulda Gap in strength.

Average Americans don't spend time telling Europe what they think is best for them and I think it's time for Europeans to do the same for the US.
While what you say is 100% true, it has nothing to do with the subject matter
 

KE0GXN

Member
Joined
Dec 19, 2011
Messages
1,353
Location
Echo Mike Two-Seven
I've noted that Europeans are very quick to criticize the US and/or tell us what they think is best for America. They don't seem to realize that their existence on this earth has been dependent on the United States since 1917. We bailed them out of two world wars and it was only our presence in NATO that kept the Soviet Union from coming through the Fulda Gap in strength.

Average Americans don't spend time telling Europe what they think is best for them and I think it's time for Europeans to do the same for the US.

Happy Veterans Day Chief! ;)
 

bill4long

Member
Joined
Aug 6, 2012
Messages
1,459
Location
Indianapolis
While what you say is 100% true, it has nothing to do with the subject matter

It kinda does because the maker of the video - if you read his comments - is rather abusive to commenters (mostly from USA) about an array of issues that have nothing to do with the video. That the guy has an axe to grind against USA is rather obvious. Just sayin'.
 

KK4JUG

Member
Premium Subscriber
Joined
Dec 13, 2014
Messages
4,245
Location
GA
It kinda does because the maker of the video - if you read his comments - is rather abusive to commenters (mostly from USA) about an array of issues that have nothing to do with the video. That the guy has an axe to grind against USA is rather obvious. Just sayin'.
Okay, I s'pose so. I see your point.
 

jsncrso

KN4ZVZ
Feed Provider
Joined
Sep 12, 2009
Messages
249
Location
Outer Banks, NC
I'll give my own two cents on the subject. I live on the Outer Banks of NC and I recently got my HAM license. I took the class the local HAM club sponsors every year. Most of the 16 people in the class were firefighters and law enforcement, and many of the fire chiefs in the area are also HAM licensees. Every fire and EMS station here, as well as the local Hospital have HAM radios. During hurricanes, a volunteer is posted at every station, and at the brand new Dare County EOC, there is a room solely dedicated to amateur radio operations and it sits in between the dispatch office and EOC command office. Our 800MHz P25 public safety radio system has gone down more than once during hurricanes and guess who relays emergency traffic? In fact, During Hurricane Dorian, it was amateur radio operators on the southern Outer Banks who were relaying direct and very crucial information on the catastrophic flooding, and those transmissions were sent via repeater all the way to the state EOC in Raleigh as all power and communications were down.

So amateur radio might not be important everywhere, it still is in certain areas.

Also, it is the local club members who volunteer during our marathon to be stationed at fixed distances to relay any emergency traffic to EMS command if a runner suffers a medical emergency.
 
Status
Not open for further replies.
Top