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 In this final part of the series, the Curmudgeon looks backwards (with just a little nostalgia) at the ARS of fifty years ago as a reference point for today’s Service and notes that, even then, it was not a perfect society. And he gazes into a well-clouded crystal ball and hazards a few guesses about its future. [...] In the previous post, the Curmudgeon looked at the first of the two major sociological changes that, in his opinion, have occurred in the Amateur Radio Service during the past fifty years: the “dumbing down” and “consumerization” of the ARS. In this post he examines the second major change. This other change, the Curmudgeon suggests, is the ascendency of ARS operators’ ego as a principal organizing force. It has changed the Service during the past half-century, and not for the better. There are several ways in which this trend manifests itself today. [...] It’s not been the Curmudgeon’s intention to devote appreciable coverage to the Amateur Radio Service (ARS) in these blog postings. A majority (perhaps most) of today’s telecommunications professionals are no longer licensed hams, although in past decades they most likely would have been. However, two recent personal events again brought the ARS into focus. In the first, earlier this year the Curmudgeon (today an Amateur Extra Class licensee) celebrated the fiftieth anniversary of earning his first ARS license, which was the (former entry-level) Novice class ticket. The second event was receipt of a gift of some computer CD-ROMS containing sets of page image files for the historic 1930 through 1959 issues of QST Magazine (the principal ham journal, published by the American Radio Relay League). [...] The US economy, juiced by the national popular culture, is about to commit another major telecommunications blunder! The title of this piece gives a clue to it. Since there is no way to stop or to prevent the developing blunder, it might be of some use at least to understand what we are doing. American consumers, [...] Within the developing utility Smart Grid universe, this time we’ll look at some special concerns about the customer-centric Advanced Metering Initiative area. Here the deck is stacked entirely against the consumer. First, the consumer will have to pay the costs for implementing the Initiative; in California alone, the costs just for replacing a significant portion [...] As everyone knows, the FCC has released a draft of their National Broadband Plan. Whoopee! They labored mightily, and they gave birth to a mouse. And probably a congenitally deformed mouse at that! At least in its outline form, the plan is what you might expect from a panel of LEPs (Lawyers, Economists, and Politicians) running [...]  The Curmudgeon has received word about and has done a little investigating on an evolving issue. It’s the sort of thing that has to make you scratch your head and wonder just exactly where we have taken ourselves. It’s the kind of matter that causes you to feel a bit queasy inside. We’re back for the [...] There’s so much heat on in the spectrum and broadband areas today, LBA asked the Curmudgeon to expand a bit on his last posting’s spectrum musings. In the last blog post we identified the looming potential problem of total consumption of the radio frequency spectrum. If we want to head this off, we need to begin [...] LBA asks the Old RF Curmudgeon to put on his magic glasses and look through the swirling mists of spectrum policy. In this several part (he’s still looking) series the Curmudgeon will share with us the fantastic visions of spectrum usage and policy that he tunes in. Look with him carefully, as the spectrum path [...] LBA asks the Old RF Curmudgeon “Now that the remaining analog TV nightlight stations have gone dark and the DTV transition fireworks are pretty much over, what is the success, or lack thereof, of the enterprise. This event is important because it was a major field test of whether the general population can be successfully moved [...] LBA asks the Old RF Curmudgeon how “being wired-in continuously” on hand held RF devices is affecting the (still) finite RF spectrum. The Curmudgeon believes that, without necessary and sufficient prior consideration, the US is starting down a technological path which may well prove to be unfortunate, festooned with many unforeseen consequences. One wishes that some [...] LBA asks: What do you think of the future of AM broadcasting as you see it today? This one is emotional, of course. After all, AM radio is one of the very oldest uses of the radio spectrum (beginning ~1919), as evidenced in part by the Medium Frequency band on which it began and still operates. [...] LBA asks: So many of those in our industry are amateur radio operators, including staff at LBA, that we asked the Old RF Curmudgeon to come out of his den and give us a read on the health of ham radio today. The Amateur Radio Service has an almost unduplicated position for a recreational activity/leisure time [...] LBA asks: There has been a lot of activity recently among FM broadcasters, what with adding IBOC digital, more transmitting power and station upgrades for better coverage. Knowing your “RF sensitivity”, where is all this going for our spectrum? One day not too long ago I happened to have my spectrum analyzer connected to the outside discone [...] *** If you are new to The Old Curmudgeon series, read the previous blog for a brief introduction.*** LBA asks – “Well, RF Curmudgeon, what do you say to this RF interference and spectrum pollution from the nifty LED devices popping up everywhere? Why I can’t drive through an intersection without LED traffic lights blanking out [...] The Old RF Curmudgeon has been poking his beak into the RF world for very close to fifty years. With both commercial and amateur radio experience, close contacts in broadcast engineering, radio site management experience, lots of paper pushed into the FCC, an immense curiosity about “how things work,” and a “real gud college education,” [...] |
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