On Mar 18, 9:22�am, "Richard Crowley" wrote:
"Steve Bonine" *wrote ...

Perhaps my impression is wrong, in which case I hope that someone will
correct me, but don't most countries treat the regulation of amateur
radio more like "here are your allocations"?

I would like to think that there are enough gentlemen in ham radio
that gentlemen's agreements and voluntary bandplans would be
sufficient. Based on what I hear on the air, that's a rather silly
hope. Nonetheless, it reflects badly on our hobby that an agency needs
to stand by with a big stick to make us do what we should be able to
do on our own.

OTOH, Why should *we be surprised if Amateur Radio
appears to reflect the declining conduct of society in general?
It *would be nice if we were better behaved, but perhaps that
is too high an expectation.

Richard Crowley KE7GKP

I can't agree with the "general societal decline" opinion.
That's been a general remark all through seven decades
of my life by each successive generation...who have all
generally flourished despite all their dire predictions.

What has been happening, to amateur radio as well as
to "general society" is CHANGE. Changes upset our
cozy concepts, those of the liked and familiar, with
strange new things, unfamiliar and untried. Changes
WILL happen and succeeding generations will consider
them as "old hat" in their day yet to come. :-)

I have to agree with Hans Brakob's "here are your
bands, have a nice day" concept (borrowed from the
late Don Stoner?). In general, that is. Practically,
there must be a middle ground in regulations. I don't
think that governmental micromanagement of mode
allocations per band is the way to go...nor should
there be so many conditional regulations on top of
those when the rest of the radio world is exploring
new things and making them work.

The FCC presently yields a lot of options to amateurs
insofar as mode use goes. If certain "gentlemen" are
inclined to stick with their familiar options at the expense
of other gentlemen, then the gentlemen ought to settle
it themselves. All the FCC can do is enforce their long-
standing "no interference with licensed users" dictum
which I think is a good thing. There's no territorial
imperative to be claimed in amateur radio spectrum
allocations, nobody "owns" certain bandspaces nor
frequencies.

As time goes on, there WILL be changes to amateur
radio bandspace divisions. There WILL be the usual
cry by the established "gentlemen" and the general
harrangues of those "gentlemen" desiring change.
Seeking a middle ground is necessary and the FCC
may have to step in (again) and change the subdivisions.
If it must, then the "gentlemen" on both sides have
failed to agree and the pessimistic view will be realized.

I'm not optimistic that all are "gentlemen" and can
settle things among themselves. I would hope they
would but I've seen a lot of generations of humans
do their thing on many varieties of activities.

73, Len AF6AY