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#11
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This year Nevada (where I live) passed a law (S.B. 140,
http://www.leg.state.nv.us/Session/7...B/SB140_EN.pdf ) outlawing certain practices regarding communications devices while driving. Primarily aimed at texting and cell phone use, it also impacts amateurs. Specifically: 1. No text or data entry while driving. 2. Cell phone OK only if no-hands. 3. Hand-held cellphone OK in emergency. 4. Police and Fire exempt while on duty and responding to emergency. 5. Amateurs exempt while in a real emergency or in a emergency drill. 6. Anyone can use voice communications with no-hands equipment. 6. Licensed radio users (amateurs, GMRS, etc, but not CB) may use hand-held microphones in non-emergency non-drill, if the microphone has only a push-to-talk (PTT) switch and no other switches. Regarding item 6, all amateur radio mobile rigs I know of have a multiplicity of buttons on the microphone. I don't know how I would get a mike with only a PTT. It's possible that GMRS radios have only a PTT switch. I do know about arrangements using BlueTooth earlobe transceivers. But that's not an option for me because I am deaf in one ear (due to an attack of the disease Shingles), and a BlueTooth in the other ear would prevent me from hearing traffic noise. In the year 2000, just after upgrading from Technician to Extra (Thank you, FCC, for lowering the code speed), I bought a Icom 706MkIIG mobile HF tranceiver and a screwdriver antenna. While driving along a back road, I tried tuning across the 20 meter phone band. In a very short time I ended up in the ditch. (Fortunately, southern Nevada is all desert with no naturally growing trees, just tumbleweed.) I shut off the radio, and when I got home I uninstalled it and the antenna. Now the only use the radio gets is on Field Day. Dick Grady, AC7EL |
#12
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In article Steve Bonine writes:
It amazes me to think that there are people who are reasonable in other respects, but who can say with a straight face that there is no evidence that using ham radio while driving results in distraction. Somehow hams have a mysterious ability to tune around looking for a QSO, check the antenna match, and carry on a conversation without this activity distracting them from driving? If it wasn't for the clear danger it poses, that would be funny. What clear danger? Tuning around looking for a QSO? Does that mean hitting the up/down button to scan on a VHF or UHF radio? Perhaps stepping through the stored memories, since most use those now to keep track of PL tones and the like. No method of checking the antenna match exists on the mobile rigs I have seen. Hard to check it. Carry on a conversation? If talking to someone while you are driving overloads your mental capabilities to impair driving, you should not be driving in the first place. Clear danger? Even the danger of handheld cellphones is far from clear. Some very good observations have been made to refute the claims of the dangers (phones, not amateur radio). After 47 years as an ARRL member, we parted ways on this issue. I think it is morally irresponsible for a national organization to encourage their members to engage in what is obviously dangerous behavior that puts other people at risk. Different people have different abilities, as we used to say, some cannot walk and chew gum at the same time. What seems an obvious danger to you may be no more difficult than chewing gum to another. It amazes me that society hasn't figured out that people will multitask while driving if they can. We would be far better off to educate folks on how to do it safely instead of simply preaching abstinence. Alan wa6azp |
#13
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![]() In article , Alan wrote: What clear danger? Carry on a conversation? If talking to someone while you are driving overloads your mental capabilities to impair driving, you should not be driving in the first place. I mentioned earlier that I think other hams are accustomed to mobile participants dropping out of a conversation suddenly. If the person was talking when it needs to happen, he/she will usually have time to say "Hang on." If someone else had the channel, then the other person simply won't be there next time it's their turn, and the other hams will go on to the next person. Even if it's just you and one other ham chatting, they'll understand if you go away temporarily. I find this to be midway between cellphone conversations (where there is usually only one other participant and that peerson is likely to be confused if you suddenly disappear) and in-car conversations. Regarding the latter, I've heard talk-show callers say, "If we ban cellphones in cars, what's next? Not letting you talk to other people in the car?" But that situation is very different, because someone in the car can *see* when a driving situation is happening, and as long as they're above the age of reason, they'll stop talking immediately. So I don't see mobile amateur radio conversations as being quite as safe as chatting with another person who's in the car, but I still think they're qualitatively different from cellphone calls. Patty N6BIS |
#14
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#15
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In article Phil Kane writes:
On Wed, 21 Dec 2011 08:06:24 EST, (Alan) wrote: Even the danger of handheld cellphones is far from clear. Some very good observations have been made to refute the claims of the dangers (phones, not amateur radio). Drive in downtown "any city" during commute hours and see the distracted drivers with the cellphones make movements which are dangerous. While some folks are a hazard if they are driving while talking, some are a hazard without cellphones. We notice the folks who are driving poorly while on phones, but we don't notice those that can do the activities well. The notice of inept drivers using phones does not prove that all drivers using phones are hazards, nor does it prove that the phones were the cause of the noticed drivers problems. Mobile amateur radio would benefit from a program teaching operators how to be safe during mobile operation. It would be far more useful than banning mobile operation. Alan |
#16
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On 12/20/2011 5:42 PM, Steve Bonine wrote:
On 12/19/11 2:00 PM, Phil Kane wrote: Steve should realize and accept that there's a world of difference between dispatch communications, which we do, and having a duplex conversation. It's not "dispatch communications" that we're talking about. If the ARRL wants to go after an exemption for dispatch communications, I might be able to support that. But they're defending the right of hams to exercise all aspects of their hobby while driving. They're defending their members' right to diddle with an HF rig, work DX, strain for weak signals, and so on. The fact that no sane person would do that does not change what the ARRL is working for. And I've seen people who in other respects were perfectly sane do exactly this while behind the wheel at 80 mph. I've been using mobile radios, both ham and non-ham, for decades and know how to do it safely. Good for you. Your abilities do not extrapolate into the general ham radio population. I spent a lot of effort to get the ham exemption written into the Oregon hands-free statute, and I do use a hands-free device with my cellphone at all times. We are using an FCC license to determine whether someone is qualified to drive while operating a radio. They're not required to have any training and there is no limit to the amount of distraction they can impose upon themselves. 73, Steve KB9X I can tell you that at least in my case, and I suspect it is the case with MANY hams.. The attitude is 100% different if using a Ham 2-way and a cell phone... A wise man is supposed to have said: Any man who can safely drive a car while kissing a pretty girl is not giving the girl the attention she deserves. The cell phone is like the girl it demands more attantion than I can spare when driving. The radio.. not so much. Not nearly so much. And the "Dispatch" communactions I did for 25 years .... was 2-way. -- Nothing adds Excitement like something that is none of your business. ----- No virus found in this message. Checked by AVG - www.avg.com Version: 2012.0.1901 / Virus Database: 2109/4704 - Release Date: 12/26/11 |
#17
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On 12/20/2011 11:18 PM, Patty Winter wrote:
In , John wrote: Several major differences.. The microphone on my radios is tethered, If I drop it I can recover it without taking my eyes off the road (later) Been there, done that. :-) Dropped the mic on the passenger seat or wherever it happened to land, then used my hand to feel for the mic cord and run along that until I found the mic again. No need to look down for it. cell phones are held to the ear for the most part. Don't most states prohibit that now? I realize that such laws are widely disregarded, but aren't most mobile cellphone users using Bluetooth headsets now? (I presume the phone itself is in some kind of mount or on the passenger seat, so not subject to dropping.) Another thing I have found... My Attitude when using a cell phone is very much different from my attitude when talking on 2 meters (or one of the other radios) On the phone I switch considerable attention to the phone.. Yeah, I can't quite explain it, but there *is* a tangible difference. I think some of has to do with cellphones being (or at least behaving like) full-duplex devices, whereas ham radios are very much an "over to you" situation. (And let me make it clear that I'm referring to talking on a cellphone in general, not just in a car. I rarely use a cellphone anyway, but never in a car. I don't even have the necessary setup for it.) Patty You may have hit it there in that last comment Patty (About the "over to you" nature of ham radio) And yes, many states do (And there is a federal movement to) prohibit hand held Cell phones... That does not stop folks (Including in many cases Police officers and government officials) from using them. -- Nothing adds Excitement like something that is none of your business. ----- No virus found in this message. Checked by AVG - www.avg.com Version: 2012.0.1901 / Virus Database: 2109/4704 - Release Date: 12/26/11 |
#18
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On 12/21/2011 8:06 AM, Alan wrote:
No method of checking the antenna match exists on the mobile rigs I have seen. Hard to check it. Alan wa6azp Both the Ham HF Mobile I know best (Kenwood TS-2000) and one of my CB's (I have several for some reaons.. actually I know why, but only one) have built in SWR meters.. on the TS-2000 there is also one-touch antenna matching provided you are using a compatible antenna. That said, the TS-2000 is around 15-20 feet from the driver's seat in this motorized house. And I never do SWR checks on the CB when driving. Not that the antenna is adjustable from there. MANY ham rigs now days have built in tuners and meters by the way. -- Nothing adds Excitement like something that is none of your business. ----- No virus found in this message. Checked by AVG - www.avg.com Version: 2012.0.1901 / Virus Database: 2109/4704 - Release Date: 12/26/11 |
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