• [MW1CFN] IARU: more crap

    From MW1CFN via rec.radio.amateur.modera@21:1/5 to All on Sat Dec 25 07:33:36 2021
    XPost: rec.radio.amateur.moderated, uk.radio.amateur, free.uk.amateur-radio

    Real-World Amateur Radio

    ///////////////////////////////////////////
    IARU: more crap

    Posted: 24 Dec 2021 02:56 AM PST https://mw1cfnradio.blogspot.com/2021/12/iaru-more-crap.html



    IARU Region 1 seems to have been busy of late with what it describes as
    taking control of the future of amateur radio, rather than being
    controlled by the future.

    This is a very good idea. But I'm not sure IARU has carried it off.
    Indeed, the outcome of this exercise, which involved a large number of
    member societies, seems to end-up repeating the same old rubbish that
    we've heard coming from the mouths of rich, retired white people for
    decades.
    Consider, for example, this sentence:"Amateur radio is seen to be providing social, economic, educational,and other benefits to
    society"Well, at an individual level, I suppose there are certainly social
    and educational benefits. But to society as a whole? I'm not so sure.
    And who does IARU believe 'sees' radio to be like this? Certainly not the general public. Using the words 'other benefits' is nebulous, and weak.
    If you ask a person in the street, or they come across you whilst out
    portable, amongst the public, then I can very confidently say that about
    95% of them could not tell you a single thing about amateur radio. Most, feeling pressed to say anything at all, will tend to blurt-out the
    words 'CB, is it?' And there, I think, is the main battlefront for amateur radio: its sheer unknown-ness to the general public.That's not to say the public aren't interested; I think they very much are. A lot of retired-age people who come to talk to me when they see me out on the coast will say
    how much their young grandchildren would enjoy having a go at radio. They
    go on to say it would be a lot better than staring at a mobile phone. Of course, they're absolutely right!
    If you don't slap CB down when the public mention it as something they
    remember from the dim past about radio, then they are much more likely to
    take longer to talk to you about it. I often say 'I started off after a
    period with CB.' And that was true for very many of us older than about 50 years today.
    It's also true that a fair number of people seeing an antenna will try to
    see what's going on, but won't engage and won't come to ask. They mumble
    with one another that it's probably something illegal, or wonder whether
    the operator has permission to put an antenna up in such a beautiful spot.
    This is almost certainly stoked by the idea amongst the public that amateur radio operators are socially withdrawn, 'anorak' types who lock themselves
    away in man-sheds. And let's be honest, a lot of us are like that. We may
    not be unfriendly, but we can certainly appear to be. In the UK,
    certainly, amateur radio was widely held for decades by participants to set them apart from - and above - the rest of society. The need to pass a
    fairly involved, 90 minute, largely electronics-based examination, plus the mystique of knowing Morse code, essential until very recently to get onto
    the HF bands, made these people, they imagined, 'special'. A large
    fraction of the radio community back then were well-paid career electronics workers who could afford and/or build their ham equipment. This just reinforced their separation from the general population. These attitudes
    were quite effective in isolating amateur radio from the general public,
    who were even seen as unwelcome threats to the hobby when they came to it
    via the CB route.
    IARU goes on, inevitably, to claim that:"Amateur radio is seen as a
    welcoming and accessible activity for people of all ages, backgrounds,
    genders, and ethnicities, providing fun, social community and personal development" Well, I had to laugh at that! Considering that 50% of
    humanity is female, there are essentially no women in amateur radio.
    Ethnic minorities are seriously under-represented in countries like the UK
    and the US, especially when it comes to positions in radio societies. I
    don't think that women and ethnic minorities find amateur radio welcoming
    at all. If they did, they would be participating. I also found the
    following rather odd, to the point of surely being wholly false:"Amateur
    radio has an extensive media presence from its accessibility to new
    entrants to its high value technical and scientific contribution".Does it?
    I can only recall one mainstream media article about amateur radio in the
    past several years. Even then, where the BBC tried to present a positive
    image for us, it was entitled 'The very particular world of amateur
    radio'. You can still watch it here, and I'll let you sit back, imagine
    you're a non-amateur radio person, and think: 'is this really painting a
    good picture of us, or just lightheartedly reinforcing what the public
    think of us already?' Or, maybe more usefully: 'will this encourage more people to rush out and join up?'I'm not at all persuaded that IARU has a strategy that will work for the future. Reading through their list
    of 'Strategic Objectives', you find that they are not so much aims for the future, but simply statements of how some contributors to the exercise see amateur radio today - or, actually, how it was, a long time ago. This
    feeling is only made worse when you look at the flowchart under 'What
    happens now?', which seems like a recipe for more committees or
    something.For my money, I would make these suggestions to IARU:(1)
    Recognise that the management of radio societies are typically highly
    skewed in terms of ethnicity, age, gender and socio-economic security.
    They are highly unrepresentative of society as a whole, and unlikely to understand why people not like them are not joining the hobby. Indeed,
    they are unlikely to perceive, or reject the case, that there is any
    problem at all. The problems begin here.
    (2) The perception of amateur radio that matters isn't found from within
    the existing amateur radio population itself. Rather, to ensure the future
    of amateur radio, and to break down the clear, existing barriers to participation, we need to ask the general public what they think of us.
    Only then can we find out where the negative impressions of our hobby lie (although many of us can readily tell you this!)(3) Stop claiming things
    about amateur radio that have little foundation in reality. More
    especially, stop claiming that a reasonable justification for amateur
    radio's value is found in 'emergency communications'. Of couse, radio can provide some relief in emergencies. It's just that, in practice, almost
    nobody involved in the hobby will ever use radio in this way. I doubt most people who may be interested in joining would want to do so to pretend
    being some kind of emergency responder in a yellow jacket, anyway.(4) The
    claim that amateur radio provides skilled people to industry is almost certainly false inasmuch as it is in any way a good reason to support
    radio. We all know that radio is overwhelmingly a hobby of the ageing male population. Those aren't working-age people of value to industry, although they are by no means without value in terms of teaching others, for
    example.(5) Be honest about where we stand. We're seen as rather odd, highly-technical and anti-social people who hide away in sheds, surrounded
    by incomprehensible electronic stuff. We won't appeal to a new generation
    of enthusiasts unless we tackle these images first. There are plenty of
    other things to tackle, too. The UK regulator, OFCOM, for example, has next-to-no interest in the amateur service. A year ago, it imposed complex
    and wholly needless EM safety regulations in response to panic amongst the ignorant public about 5G internet. When asked, absolutely nobody,
    including OFCOM, were able to provide scientific evidence that provided a
    basis for their imposition of these ridiculous rules. There is no point
    having a strategy for amateur radio when regulators just stamp their feet
    at random, with no basis for their actions, and seemingly nobody being able
    to challenge them.

    --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05
    * Origin: fsxNet Usenet Gateway (21:1/5)
  • From Jim GM4DHJ ...@21:1/5 to All on Sat Dec 25 14:25:15 2021
    XPost: uk.radio.amateur

    On 25/12/2021 12:33, MW1CFN via rec.radio.amateur.moderated Admin wrote:

    Real-World Amateur Radio

    ///////////////////////////////////////////
    IARU: more crap

    Posted: 24 Dec 2021 02:56 AM PST https://mw1cfnradio.blogspot.com/2021/12/iaru-more-crap.html



    IARU Region 1 seems to have been busy of late with what it describes  as taking control of the future of amateur radio, rather than being
    controlled by the future.

    This is a very good idea. But I'm not sure  IARU has carried it off.
    Indeed, the outcome of this exercise, which  involved a large number of member societies, seems to end-up repeating  the same old rubbish that
    we've heard coming from the mouths of rich,  retired white people for decades.
    Consider, for example, this sentence:"Amateur radio is seen to be
    providing social, economic, educational,and other benefits to
    society"Well, at an individual level, I suppose there are certainly
    social and educational benefits.  But to society as a whole?  I'm not so sure.  And who does IARU believe 'sees' radio to be like this?
    Certainly not the general public. Using the words 'other benefits' is nebulous, and weak.
    If you ask a person in the street, or they come across you whilst out portable, amongst the public, then I can very confidently say that about
    95% of them could not tell you a single thing about amateur radio.
    Most, feeling pressed to say anything at all, will tend to blurt-out the words 'CB, is it?'  And there, I think, is the main battlefront for
    amateur radio: its sheer unknown-ness to the general public.That's not
    to say the public aren't interested; I think they very much are.  A lot
    of retired-age people who come to talk to me when they see me out on the coast will say how much their young grandchildren would enjoy having a
    go at radio.  They go on to say it would be a lot better than staring at
    a mobile phone.  Of course, they're absolutely right!
    If you don't slap CB down when the public mention it as something they remember from the dim past about radio, then they are much more likely
    to take longer to talk to you about it.  I often say 'I started off
    after a period with CB.'  And that was true for very many of us older
    than about 50 years today.
    It's also true that a fair number of people seeing an antenna will try
    to see what's going on, but won't engage and won't come to ask.  They
    mumble with one another that it's probably something illegal, or wonder whether the operator has permission to put an antenna up in such a
    beautiful spot.
    This is almost certainly stoked by the idea amongst the public that
    amateur radio operators are socially withdrawn, 'anorak' types who lock themselves away in man-sheds.  And let's be honest, a lot of us are like that.  We may not be unfriendly, but we can certainly appear to be.  In
    the UK, certainly, amateur radio was widely held for decades by
    participants to set them apart from - and above - the rest of society.
    The need to pass a fairly involved, 90 minute, largely electronics-based examination, plus the mystique of knowing Morse code, essential until
    very recently to get onto the HF bands, made these people, they
    imagined, 'special'.  A large fraction of the radio community back then
    were well-paid career electronics workers who could afford and/or build
    their ham equipment.  This just reinforced their separation from the
    general population. These attitudes were quite effective in isolating
    amateur radio from the general public, who were even seen as unwelcome threats to the hobby when they came to it via the CB route.
    IARU goes on, inevitably, to claim that:"Amateur radio is seen as a
    welcoming and accessible activity for people of all ages, backgrounds, genders, and ethnicities, providing fun, social community and personal development"   Well, I had to laugh at that!  Considering that 50% of humanity is female, there are essentially no women in amateur radio.
    Ethnic minorities are seriously under-represented in countries like the
    UK and the US, especially when it comes to positions in radio
    societies.  I don't think that women and ethnic minorities find amateur radio welcoming at all.  If they did, they would be participating. I
    also found the following rather odd, to the point of surely being wholly false:"Amateur radio has an extensive media presence from its
    accessibility to new entrants to its high value technical and scientific contribution".Does it?  I can only recall one mainstream media article
    about amateur radio in the past several years.  Even then, where the BBC tried to present a positive image for us, it was entitled 'The very particular world of amateur radio'.  You can still watch it here, and
    I'll let you sit back, imagine you're a non-amateur radio person, and
    think: 'is this really painting a good picture of us, or just
    lightheartedly reinforcing what the public think of us already?'  Or,
    maybe more usefully: 'will this encourage more people to rush out and
    join up?'I'm not at all persuaded that IARU has a strategy that will
    work for the future. Reading through their list of 'Strategic
    Objectives', you find that they are not so much aims for the future, but simply statements of how some contributors to the exercise see amateur
    radio today - or, actually, how it was, a long time ago.  This feeling
    is only made worse when you look at the flowchart under 'What happens
    now?', which seems like a recipe for more committees or something.For my money, I would make these suggestions to IARU:(1) Recognise that the management of radio societies are typically highly skewed in terms of ethnicity, age, gender and socio-economic security.  They are highly unrepresentative of society as a whole, and unlikely to understand why
    people not like them are not joining the hobby.  Indeed, they are
    unlikely to perceive, or reject the case, that there is any problem at
    all.  The problems begin here.
    (2) The perception of amateur radio that matters isn't found from within
    the existing amateur radio population itself.  Rather, to ensure the
    future of amateur radio, and to break down the clear, existing barriers
    to participation, we need to ask the general public what they think of
    us.  Only then can we find out where the negative impressions of our
    hobby lie (although many of us can readily tell you this!)(3) Stop
    claiming things about amateur radio that have little foundation in
    reality.  More especially, stop claiming that a reasonable justification
    for amateur radio's value is found in 'emergency communications'.  Of
    couse, radio can provide some relief in emergencies.  It's just that, in practice, almost nobody involved in the hobby will ever use radio in
    this way. I doubt most people who may be interested in joining would
    want to do so to pretend being some kind of emergency responder in a
    yellow jacket, anyway.(4) The claim that amateur radio provides skilled people to industry is almost certainly false inasmuch as it is in any
    way a good reason to support radio.  We all know that radio is overwhelmingly a hobby of the ageing male population.  Those aren't working-age people of value to industry, although they are by no means without value in terms of teaching others, for example.(5) Be honest
    about where we stand.  We're seen as rather odd, highly-technical and anti-social people who hide away in sheds, surrounded by
    incomprehensible electronic stuff.  We won't appeal to a new generation
    of enthusiasts unless we tackle these images first.  There are plenty of other things to tackle, too.  The UK regulator, OFCOM, for example, has next-to-no interest in the amateur service.  A year ago, it imposed
    complex and wholly needless EM safety regulations in response to panic amongst the ignorant public about 5G internet.  When asked, absolutely nobody, including OFCOM, were able to provide scientific evidence that provided a basis for their imposition of these ridiculous rules.  There
    is no point having a strategy for amateur radio when regulators just
    stamp their feet at random, with no basis for their actions, and
    seemingly nobody being able to challenge them.



    wall of text

    --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05
    * Origin: fsxNet Usenet Gateway (21:1/5)
  • From Roger Hayter@21:1/5 to All on Sat Dec 25 15:45:21 2021
    XPost: uk.radio.amateur

    On 25 Dec 2021 at 14:25:15 GMT, ""Jim GM4DHJ ..."" <kinvig.netta@ntlworld.com> wrote:

    On 25/12/2021 12:33, MW1CFN via rec.radio.amateur.moderated Admin wrote:

    Real-World Amateur Radio

    ///////////////////////////////////////////
    IARU: more crap

    Posted: 24 Dec 2021 02:56 AM PST
    https://mw1cfnradio.blogspot.com/2021/12/iaru-more-crap.html



    IARU Region 1 seems to have been busy of late with what it describes as
    taking control of the future of amateur radio, rather than being
    controlled by the future.

    This is a very good idea. But I'm not sure IARU has carried it off.
    Indeed, the outcome of this exercise, which involved a large number of
    member societies, seems to end-up repeating the same old rubbish that
    we've heard coming from the mouths of rich, retired white people for
    decades.
    Consider, for example, this sentence:"Amateur radio is seen to be
    providing social, economic, educational,and other benefits to
    society"Well, at an individual level, I suppose there are certainly
    social and educational benefits. But to society as a whole? I'm not so
    sure. And who does IARU believe 'sees' radio to be like this?
    Certainly not the general public. Using the words 'other benefits' is
    nebulous, and weak.
    If you ask a person in the street, or they come across you whilst out
    portable, amongst the public, then I can very confidently say that about
    95% of them could not tell you a single thing about amateur radio.
    Most, feeling pressed to say anything at all, will tend to blurt-out the
    words 'CB, is it?' And there, I think, is the main battlefront for
    amateur radio: its sheer unknown-ness to the general public.That's not
    to say the public aren't interested; I think they very much are. A lot
    of retired-age people who come to talk to me when they see me out on the
    coast will say how much their young grandchildren would enjoy having a
    go at radio. They go on to say it would be a lot better than staring at
    a mobile phone. Of course, they're absolutely right!
    If you don't slap CB down when the public mention it as something they
    remember from the dim past about radio, then they are much more likely
    to take longer to talk to you about it. I often say 'I started off
    after a period with CB.' And that was true for very many of us older
    than about 50 years today.
    It's also true that a fair number of people seeing an antenna will try
    to see what's going on, but won't engage and won't come to ask. They
    mumble with one another that it's probably something illegal, or wonder
    whether the operator has permission to put an antenna up in such a
    beautiful spot.
    This is almost certainly stoked by the idea amongst the public that
    amateur radio operators are socially withdrawn, 'anorak' types who lock
    themselves away in man-sheds. And let's be honest, a lot of us are like
    that. We may not be unfriendly, but we can certainly appear to be. In
    the UK, certainly, amateur radio was widely held for decades by
    participants to set them apart from - and above - the rest of society.
    The need to pass a fairly involved, 90 minute, largely electronics-based
    examination, plus the mystique of knowing Morse code, essential until
    very recently to get onto the HF bands, made these people, they
    imagined, 'special'. A large fraction of the radio community back then
    were well-paid career electronics workers who could afford and/or build
    their ham equipment. This just reinforced their separation from the
    general population. These attitudes were quite effective in isolating
    amateur radio from the general public, who were even seen as unwelcome
    threats to the hobby when they came to it via the CB route.
    IARU goes on, inevitably, to claim that:"Amateur radio is seen as a
    welcoming and accessible activity for people of all ages, backgrounds,
    genders, and ethnicities, providing fun, social community and personal
    development" Well, I had to laugh at that! Considering that 50% of
    humanity is female, there are essentially no women in amateur radio.
    Ethnic minorities are seriously under-represented in countries like the
    UK and the US, especially when it comes to positions in radio
    societies. I don't think that women and ethnic minorities find amateur
    radio welcoming at all. If they did, they would be participating. I
    also found the following rather odd, to the point of surely being wholly
    false:"Amateur radio has an extensive media presence from its
    accessibility to new entrants to its high value technical and scientific
    contribution".Does it? I can only recall one mainstream media article
    about amateur radio in the past several years. Even then, where the BBC
    tried to present a positive image for us, it was entitled 'The very
    particular world of amateur radio'. You can still watch it here, and
    I'll let you sit back, imagine you're a non-amateur radio person, and
    think: 'is this really painting a good picture of us, or just
    lightheartedly reinforcing what the public think of us already?' Or,
    maybe more usefully: 'will this encourage more people to rush out and
    join up?'I'm not at all persuaded that IARU has a strategy that will
    work for the future. Reading through their list of 'Strategic
    Objectives', you find that they are not so much aims for the future, but
    simply statements of how some contributors to the exercise see amateur
    radio today - or, actually, how it was, a long time ago. This feeling
    is only made worse when you look at the flowchart under 'What happens
    now?', which seems like a recipe for more committees or something.For my
    money, I would make these suggestions to IARU:(1) Recognise that the
    management of radio societies are typically highly skewed in terms of
    ethnicity, age, gender and socio-economic security. They are highly
    unrepresentative of society as a whole, and unlikely to understand why
    people not like them are not joining the hobby. Indeed, they are
    unlikely to perceive, or reject the case, that there is any problem at
    all. The problems begin here.
    (2) The perception of amateur radio that matters isn't found from within
    the existing amateur radio population itself. Rather, to ensure the
    future of amateur radio, and to break down the clear, existing barriers
    to participation, we need to ask the general public what they think of
    us. Only then can we find out where the negative impressions of our
    hobby lie (although many of us can readily tell you this!)(3) Stop
    claiming things about amateur radio that have little foundation in
    reality. More especially, stop claiming that a reasonable justification
    for amateur radio's value is found in 'emergency communications'. Of
    couse, radio can provide some relief in emergencies. It's just that, in
    practice, almost nobody involved in the hobby will ever use radio in
    this way. I doubt most people who may be interested in joining would
    want to do so to pretend being some kind of emergency responder in a
    yellow jacket, anyway.(4) The claim that amateur radio provides skilled
    people to industry is almost certainly false inasmuch as it is in any
    way a good reason to support radio. We all know that radio is
    overwhelmingly a hobby of the ageing male population. Those aren't
    working-age people of value to industry, although they are by no means
    without value in terms of teaching others, for example.(5) Be honest
    about where we stand. We're seen as rather odd, highly-technical and
    anti-social people who hide away in sheds, surrounded by
    incomprehensible electronic stuff. We won't appeal to a new generation
    of enthusiasts unless we tackle these images first. There are plenty of
    other things to tackle, too. The UK regulator, OFCOM, for example, has
    next-to-no interest in the amateur service. A year ago, it imposed
    complex and wholly needless EM safety regulations in response to panic
    amongst the ignorant public about 5G internet. When asked, absolutely
    nobody, including OFCOM, were able to provide scientific evidence that
    provided a basis for their imposition of these ridiculous rules. There
    is no point having a strategy for amateur radio when regulators just
    stamp their feet at random, with no basis for their actions, and
    seemingly nobody being able to challenge them.



    wall of text

    Blame the rec.radio.info people for stealing the text from the original html and losing the formatting along the way. It's ok on the linked web site.

    --
    Roger Hayter

    --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05
    * Origin: fsxNet Usenet Gateway (21:1/5)
  • From Jim H@21:1/5 to Roger Hayter on Sat Dec 25 17:10:28 2021
    On 25 Dec 2021 15:45:21 GMT, in <j2oskhFqbh6U1@mid.individual.net>,
    Roger Hayter <roger@hayter.org> wrote:

    On 25 Dec 2021 at 14:25:15 GMT, ""Jim GM4DHJ ..."" <kinvig.netta@ntlworld.com> >wrote:

    Blame the rec.radio.info people for stealing the text from the original html >and losing the formatting along the way. It's ok on the linked web site.

    HTML in Usenet? Please no!!
    --
    Jim H

    --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05
    * Origin: fsxNet Usenet Gateway (21:1/5)
  • From Jim GM4DHJ ...@21:1/5 to Radio Man on Sat Dec 25 18:02:38 2021
    XPost: uk.radio.amateur

    On 25/12/2021 17:44, Radio Man wrote:
    On Sat, 25 Dec 2021 14:25:15 +0000, Jim GM4DHJ ... wrote:

    On 25/12/2021 12:33, MW1CFN via rec.radio.amateur.moderated Admin wrote:

    Real-World Amateur Radio

    ///////////////////////////////////////////
    IARU: more crap

    Posted: 24 Dec 2021 02:56 AM PST
    https://mw1cfnradio.blogspot.com/2021/12/iaru-more-crap.html



    IARU Region 1 seems to have been busy of late with what it describes  as >>> taking control of the future of amateur radio, rather than being
    controlled by the future.

    This is a very good idea. But I'm not sure  IARU has carried it off.
    Indeed, the outcome of this exercise, which  involved a large number of >>> member societies, seems to end-up repeating  the same old rubbish that
    we've heard coming from the mouths of rich,  retired white people for
    decades.
    Consider, for example, this sentence:"Amateur radio is seen to be
    providing social, economic, educational,and other benefits to
    society"Well, at an individual level, I suppose there are certainly
    social and educational benefits.  But to society as a whole?  I'm not so >>> sure.  And who does IARU believe 'sees' radio to be like this?
    Certainly not the general public. Using the words 'other benefits' is
    nebulous, and weak.
    If you ask a person in the street, or they come across you whilst out
    portable, amongst the public, then I can very confidently say that about >>> 95% of them could not tell you a single thing about amateur radio.
    Most, feeling pressed to say anything at all, will tend to blurt-out the >>> words 'CB, is it?'  And there, I think, is the main battlefront for
    amateur radio: its sheer unknown-ness to the general public.That's not
    to say the public aren't interested; I think they very much are.  A lot >>> of retired-age people who come to talk to me when they see me out on the >>> coast will say how much their young grandchildren would enjoy having a
    go at radio.  They go on to say it would be a lot better than staring at >>> a mobile phone.  Of course, they're absolutely right!
    If you don't slap CB down when the public mention it as something they
    remember from the dim past about radio, then they are much more likely
    to take longer to talk to you about it.  I often say 'I started off
    after a period with CB.'  And that was true for very many of us older
    than about 50 years today.
    It's also true that a fair number of people seeing an antenna will try
    to see what's going on, but won't engage and won't come to ask.  They
    mumble with one another that it's probably something illegal, or wonder
    whether the operator has permission to put an antenna up in such a
    beautiful spot.
    This is almost certainly stoked by the idea amongst the public that
    amateur radio operators are socially withdrawn, 'anorak' types who lock
    themselves away in man-sheds.  And let's be honest, a lot of us are like >>> that.  We may not be unfriendly, but we can certainly appear to be.  In >>> the UK, certainly, amateur radio was widely held for decades by
    participants to set them apart from - and above - the rest of society.
    The need to pass a fairly involved, 90 minute, largely electronics-based >>> examination, plus the mystique of knowing Morse code, essential until
    very recently to get onto the HF bands, made these people, they
    imagined, 'special'.  A large fraction of the radio community back then >>> were well-paid career electronics workers who could afford and/or build
    their ham equipment.  This just reinforced their separation from the
    general population. These attitudes were quite effective in isolating
    amateur radio from the general public, who were even seen as unwelcome
    threats to the hobby when they came to it via the CB route.
    IARU goes on, inevitably, to claim that:"Amateur radio is seen as a
    welcoming and accessible activity for people of all ages, backgrounds,
    genders, and ethnicities, providing fun, social community and personal
    development"   Well, I had to laugh at that!  Considering that 50% of >>> humanity is female, there are essentially no women in amateur radio.
    Ethnic minorities are seriously under-represented in countries like the
    UK and the US, especially when it comes to positions in radio
    societies.  I don't think that women and ethnic minorities find amateur >>> radio welcoming at all.  If they did, they would be participating. I
    also found the following rather odd, to the point of surely being wholly >>> false:"Amateur radio has an extensive media presence from its
    accessibility to new entrants to its high value technical and scientific >>> contribution".Does it?  I can only recall one mainstream media article
    about amateur radio in the past several years.  Even then, where the BBC >>> tried to present a positive image for us, it was entitled 'The very
    particular world of amateur radio'.  You can still watch it here, and
    I'll let you sit back, imagine you're a non-amateur radio person, and
    think: 'is this really painting a good picture of us, or just
    lightheartedly reinforcing what the public think of us already?'  Or,
    maybe more usefully: 'will this encourage more people to rush out and
    join up?'I'm not at all persuaded that IARU has a strategy that will
    work for the future. Reading through their list of 'Strategic
    Objectives', you find that they are not so much aims for the future, but >>> simply statements of how some contributors to the exercise see amateur
    radio today - or, actually, how it was, a long time ago.  This feeling
    is only made worse when you look at the flowchart under 'What happens
    now?', which seems like a recipe for more committees or something.For my >>> money, I would make these suggestions to IARU:(1) Recognise that the
    management of radio societies are typically highly skewed in terms of
    ethnicity, age, gender and socio-economic security.  They are highly
    unrepresentative of society as a whole, and unlikely to understand why
    people not like them are not joining the hobby.  Indeed, they are
    unlikely to perceive, or reject the case, that there is any problem at
    all.  The problems begin here.
    (2) The perception of amateur radio that matters isn't found from within >>> the existing amateur radio population itself.  Rather, to ensure the
    future of amateur radio, and to break down the clear, existing barriers
    to participation, we need to ask the general public what they think of
    us.  Only then can we find out where the negative impressions of our
    hobby lie (although many of us can readily tell you this!)(3) Stop
    claiming things about amateur radio that have little foundation in
    reality.  More especially, stop claiming that a reasonable justification >>> for amateur radio's value is found in 'emergency communications'.  Of
    couse, radio can provide some relief in emergencies.  It's just that, in >>> practice, almost nobody involved in the hobby will ever use radio in
    this way. I doubt most people who may be interested in joining would
    want to do so to pretend being some kind of emergency responder in a
    yellow jacket, anyway.(4) The claim that amateur radio provides skilled
    people to industry is almost certainly false inasmuch as it is in any
    way a good reason to support radio.  We all know that radio is
    overwhelmingly a hobby of the ageing male population.  Those aren't
    working-age people of value to industry, although they are by no means
    without value in terms of teaching others, for example.(5) Be honest
    about where we stand.  We're seen as rather odd, highly-technical and
    anti-social people who hide away in sheds, surrounded by
    incomprehensible electronic stuff.  We won't appeal to a new generation >>> of enthusiasts unless we tackle these images first.  There are plenty of >>> other things to tackle, too.  The UK regulator, OFCOM, for example, has >>> next-to-no interest in the amateur service.  A year ago, it imposed
    complex and wholly needless EM safety regulations in response to panic
    amongst the ignorant public about 5G internet.  When asked, absolutely
    nobody, including OFCOM, were able to provide scientific evidence that
    provided a basis for their imposition of these ridiculous rules.  There >>> is no point having a strategy for amateur radio when regulators just
    stamp their feet at random, with no basis for their actions, and
    seemingly nobody being able to challenge them.



    wall of text

    Gotten To.

    totly

    --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05
    * Origin: fsxNet Usenet Gateway (21:1/5)
  • From Radio Man@21:1/5 to All on Sat Dec 25 17:44:55 2021
    XPost: uk.radio.amateur

    On Sat, 25 Dec 2021 14:25:15 +0000, Jim GM4DHJ ... wrote:

    On 25/12/2021 12:33, MW1CFN via rec.radio.amateur.moderated Admin wrote:

    Real-World Amateur Radio

    ///////////////////////////////////////////
    IARU: more crap

    Posted: 24 Dec 2021 02:56 AM PST
    https://mw1cfnradio.blogspot.com/2021/12/iaru-more-crap.html



    IARU Region 1 seems to have been busy of late with what it describes  as
    taking control of the future of amateur radio, rather than being
    controlled by the future.

    This is a very good idea. But I'm not sure  IARU has carried it off.
    Indeed, the outcome of this exercise, which  involved a large number of
    member societies, seems to end-up repeating  the same old rubbish that
    we've heard coming from the mouths of rich,  retired white people for
    decades.
    Consider, for example, this sentence:"Amateur radio is seen to be
    providing social, economic, educational,and other benefits to
    society"Well, at an individual level, I suppose there are certainly
    social and educational benefits.  But to society as a whole?  I'm not so >> sure.  And who does IARU believe 'sees' radio to be like this?
    Certainly not the general public. Using the words 'other benefits' is
    nebulous, and weak.
    If you ask a person in the street, or they come across you whilst out
    portable, amongst the public, then I can very confidently say that about
    95% of them could not tell you a single thing about amateur radio.
    Most, feeling pressed to say anything at all, will tend to blurt-out the
    words 'CB, is it?'  And there, I think, is the main battlefront for
    amateur radio: its sheer unknown-ness to the general public.That's not
    to say the public aren't interested; I think they very much are.  A lot
    of retired-age people who come to talk to me when they see me out on the
    coast will say how much their young grandchildren would enjoy having a
    go at radio.  They go on to say it would be a lot better than staring at
    a mobile phone.  Of course, they're absolutely right!
    If you don't slap CB down when the public mention it as something they
    remember from the dim past about radio, then they are much more likely
    to take longer to talk to you about it.  I often say 'I started off
    after a period with CB.'  And that was true for very many of us older
    than about 50 years today.
    It's also true that a fair number of people seeing an antenna will try
    to see what's going on, but won't engage and won't come to ask.  They
    mumble with one another that it's probably something illegal, or wonder
    whether the operator has permission to put an antenna up in such a
    beautiful spot.
    This is almost certainly stoked by the idea amongst the public that
    amateur radio operators are socially withdrawn, 'anorak' types who lock
    themselves away in man-sheds.  And let's be honest, a lot of us are like
    that.  We may not be unfriendly, but we can certainly appear to be.  In
    the UK, certainly, amateur radio was widely held for decades by
    participants to set them apart from - and above - the rest of society.
    The need to pass a fairly involved, 90 minute, largely electronics-based
    examination, plus the mystique of knowing Morse code, essential until
    very recently to get onto the HF bands, made these people, they
    imagined, 'special'.  A large fraction of the radio community back then
    were well-paid career electronics workers who could afford and/or build
    their ham equipment.  This just reinforced their separation from the
    general population. These attitudes were quite effective in isolating
    amateur radio from the general public, who were even seen as unwelcome
    threats to the hobby when they came to it via the CB route.
    IARU goes on, inevitably, to claim that:"Amateur radio is seen as a
    welcoming and accessible activity for people of all ages, backgrounds,
    genders, and ethnicities, providing fun, social community and personal
    development"   Well, I had to laugh at that!  Considering that 50% of
    humanity is female, there are essentially no women in amateur radio.
    Ethnic minorities are seriously under-represented in countries like the
    UK and the US, especially when it comes to positions in radio
    societies.  I don't think that women and ethnic minorities find amateur
    radio welcoming at all.  If they did, they would be participating. I
    also found the following rather odd, to the point of surely being wholly
    false:"Amateur radio has an extensive media presence from its
    accessibility to new entrants to its high value technical and scientific
    contribution".Does it?  I can only recall one mainstream media article
    about amateur radio in the past several years.  Even then, where the BBC
    tried to present a positive image for us, it was entitled 'The very
    particular world of amateur radio'.  You can still watch it here, and
    I'll let you sit back, imagine you're a non-amateur radio person, and
    think: 'is this really painting a good picture of us, or just
    lightheartedly reinforcing what the public think of us already?'  Or,
    maybe more usefully: 'will this encourage more people to rush out and
    join up?'I'm not at all persuaded that IARU has a strategy that will
    work for the future. Reading through their list of 'Strategic
    Objectives', you find that they are not so much aims for the future, but
    simply statements of how some contributors to the exercise see amateur
    radio today - or, actually, how it was, a long time ago.  This feeling
    is only made worse when you look at the flowchart under 'What happens
    now?', which seems like a recipe for more committees or something.For my
    money, I would make these suggestions to IARU:(1) Recognise that the
    management of radio societies are typically highly skewed in terms of
    ethnicity, age, gender and socio-economic security.  They are highly
    unrepresentative of society as a whole, and unlikely to understand why
    people not like them are not joining the hobby.  Indeed, they are
    unlikely to perceive, or reject the case, that there is any problem at
    all.  The problems begin here.
    (2) The perception of amateur radio that matters isn't found from within
    the existing amateur radio population itself.  Rather, to ensure the
    future of amateur radio, and to break down the clear, existing barriers
    to participation, we need to ask the general public what they think of
    us.  Only then can we find out where the negative impressions of our
    hobby lie (although many of us can readily tell you this!)(3) Stop
    claiming things about amateur radio that have little foundation in
    reality.  More especially, stop claiming that a reasonable justification
    for amateur radio's value is found in 'emergency communications'.  Of
    couse, radio can provide some relief in emergencies.  It's just that, in
    practice, almost nobody involved in the hobby will ever use radio in
    this way. I doubt most people who may be interested in joining would
    want to do so to pretend being some kind of emergency responder in a
    yellow jacket, anyway.(4) The claim that amateur radio provides skilled
    people to industry is almost certainly false inasmuch as it is in any
    way a good reason to support radio.  We all know that radio is
    overwhelmingly a hobby of the ageing male population.  Those aren't
    working-age people of value to industry, although they are by no means
    without value in terms of teaching others, for example.(5) Be honest
    about where we stand.  We're seen as rather odd, highly-technical and
    anti-social people who hide away in sheds, surrounded by
    incomprehensible electronic stuff.  We won't appeal to a new generation
    of enthusiasts unless we tackle these images first.  There are plenty of
    other things to tackle, too.  The UK regulator, OFCOM, for example, has
    next-to-no interest in the amateur service.  A year ago, it imposed
    complex and wholly needless EM safety regulations in response to panic
    amongst the ignorant public about 5G internet.  When asked, absolutely
    nobody, including OFCOM, were able to provide scientific evidence that
    provided a basis for their imposition of these ridiculous rules.  There
    is no point having a strategy for amateur radio when regulators just
    stamp their feet at random, with no basis for their actions, and
    seemingly nobody being able to challenge them.



    wall of text

    Gotten To.

    --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05
    * Origin: fsxNet Usenet Gateway (21:1/5)
  • From Jim GM4DHJ ...@21:1/5 to Roger Hayter on Sat Dec 25 18:06:07 2021
    XPost: uk.radio.amateur

    On 25/12/2021 15:45, Roger Hayter wrote:
    On 25 Dec 2021 at 14:25:15 GMT, ""Jim GM4DHJ ..."" <kinvig.netta@ntlworld.com>
    wrote:

    On 25/12/2021 12:33, MW1CFN via rec.radio.amateur.moderated Admin wrote:

    Real-World Amateur Radio

    ///////////////////////////////////////////
    IARU: more crap

    Posted: 24 Dec 2021 02:56 AM PST
    https://mw1cfnradio.blogspot.com/2021/12/iaru-more-crap.html



    IARU Region 1 seems to have been busy of late with what it describes as >>> taking control of the future of amateur radio, rather than being
    controlled by the future.

    This is a very good idea. But I'm not sure IARU has carried it off.
    Indeed, the outcome of this exercise, which involved a large number of
    member societies, seems to end-up repeating the same old rubbish that
    we've heard coming from the mouths of rich, retired white people for
    decades.
    Consider, for example, this sentence:"Amateur radio is seen to be
    providing social, economic, educational,and other benefits to
    society"Well, at an individual level, I suppose there are certainly
    social and educational benefits. But to society as a whole? I'm not so >>> sure. And who does IARU believe 'sees' radio to be like this?
    Certainly not the general public. Using the words 'other benefits' is
    nebulous, and weak.
    If you ask a person in the street, or they come across you whilst out
    portable, amongst the public, then I can very confidently say that about >>> 95% of them could not tell you a single thing about amateur radio.
    Most, feeling pressed to say anything at all, will tend to blurt-out the >>> words 'CB, is it?' And there, I think, is the main battlefront for
    amateur radio: its sheer unknown-ness to the general public.That's not
    to say the public aren't interested; I think they very much are. A lot
    of retired-age people who come to talk to me when they see me out on the >>> coast will say how much their young grandchildren would enjoy having a
    go at radio. They go on to say it would be a lot better than staring at >>> a mobile phone. Of course, they're absolutely right!
    If you don't slap CB down when the public mention it as something they
    remember from the dim past about radio, then they are much more likely
    to take longer to talk to you about it. I often say 'I started off
    after a period with CB.' And that was true for very many of us older
    than about 50 years today.
    It's also true that a fair number of people seeing an antenna will try
    to see what's going on, but won't engage and won't come to ask. They
    mumble with one another that it's probably something illegal, or wonder
    whether the operator has permission to put an antenna up in such a
    beautiful spot.
    This is almost certainly stoked by the idea amongst the public that
    amateur radio operators are socially withdrawn, 'anorak' types who lock
    themselves away in man-sheds. And let's be honest, a lot of us are like >>> that. We may not be unfriendly, but we can certainly appear to be. In
    the UK, certainly, amateur radio was widely held for decades by
    participants to set them apart from - and above - the rest of society.
    The need to pass a fairly involved, 90 minute, largely electronics-based >>> examination, plus the mystique of knowing Morse code, essential until
    very recently to get onto the HF bands, made these people, they
    imagined, 'special'. A large fraction of the radio community back then
    were well-paid career electronics workers who could afford and/or build
    their ham equipment. This just reinforced their separation from the
    general population. These attitudes were quite effective in isolating
    amateur radio from the general public, who were even seen as unwelcome
    threats to the hobby when they came to it via the CB route.
    IARU goes on, inevitably, to claim that:"Amateur radio is seen as a
    welcoming and accessible activity for people of all ages, backgrounds,
    genders, and ethnicities, providing fun, social community and personal
    development" Well, I had to laugh at that! Considering that 50% of
    humanity is female, there are essentially no women in amateur radio.
    Ethnic minorities are seriously under-represented in countries like the
    UK and the US, especially when it comes to positions in radio
    societies. I don't think that women and ethnic minorities find amateur
    radio welcoming at all. If they did, they would be participating. I
    also found the following rather odd, to the point of surely being wholly >>> false:"Amateur radio has an extensive media presence from its
    accessibility to new entrants to its high value technical and scientific >>> contribution".Does it? I can only recall one mainstream media article
    about amateur radio in the past several years. Even then, where the BBC >>> tried to present a positive image for us, it was entitled 'The very
    particular world of amateur radio'. You can still watch it here, and
    I'll let you sit back, imagine you're a non-amateur radio person, and
    think: 'is this really painting a good picture of us, or just
    lightheartedly reinforcing what the public think of us already?' Or,
    maybe more usefully: 'will this encourage more people to rush out and
    join up?'I'm not at all persuaded that IARU has a strategy that will
    work for the future. Reading through their list of 'Strategic
    Objectives', you find that they are not so much aims for the future, but >>> simply statements of how some contributors to the exercise see amateur
    radio today - or, actually, how it was, a long time ago. This feeling
    is only made worse when you look at the flowchart under 'What happens
    now?', which seems like a recipe for more committees or something.For my >>> money, I would make these suggestions to IARU:(1) Recognise that the
    management of radio societies are typically highly skewed in terms of
    ethnicity, age, gender and socio-economic security. They are highly
    unrepresentative of society as a whole, and unlikely to understand why
    people not like them are not joining the hobby. Indeed, they are
    unlikely to perceive, or reject the case, that there is any problem at
    all. The problems begin here.
    (2) The perception of amateur radio that matters isn't found from within >>> the existing amateur radio population itself. Rather, to ensure the
    future of amateur radio, and to break down the clear, existing barriers
    to participation, we need to ask the general public what they think of
    us. Only then can we find out where the negative impressions of our
    hobby lie (although many of us can readily tell you this!)(3) Stop
    claiming things about amateur radio that have little foundation in
    reality. More especially, stop claiming that a reasonable justification >>> for amateur radio's value is found in 'emergency communications'. Of
    couse, radio can provide some relief in emergencies. It's just that, in >>> practice, almost nobody involved in the hobby will ever use radio in
    this way. I doubt most people who may be interested in joining would
    want to do so to pretend being some kind of emergency responder in a
    yellow jacket, anyway.(4) The claim that amateur radio provides skilled
    people to industry is almost certainly false inasmuch as it is in any
    way a good reason to support radio. We all know that radio is
    overwhelmingly a hobby of the ageing male population. Those aren't
    working-age people of value to industry, although they are by no means
    without value in terms of teaching others, for example.(5) Be honest
    about where we stand. We're seen as rather odd, highly-technical and
    anti-social people who hide away in sheds, surrounded by
    incomprehensible electronic stuff. We won't appeal to a new generation
    of enthusiasts unless we tackle these images first. There are plenty of >>> other things to tackle, too. The UK regulator, OFCOM, for example, has
    next-to-no interest in the amateur service. A year ago, it imposed
    complex and wholly needless EM safety regulations in response to panic
    amongst the ignorant public about 5G internet. When asked, absolutely
    nobody, including OFCOM, were able to provide scientific evidence that
    provided a basis for their imposition of these ridiculous rules. There
    is no point having a strategy for amateur radio when regulators just
    stamp their feet at random, with no basis for their actions, and
    seemingly nobody being able to challenge them.



    wall of text

    Blame the rec.radio.info people for stealing the text from the original html and losing the formatting along the way. It's ok on the linked web site.

    what was it about?.... life is too short to read it....

    --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05
    * Origin: fsxNet Usenet Gateway (21:1/5)
  • From Jim GM4DHJ ...@21:1/5 to Roger Hayter on Sat Dec 25 18:03:12 2021
    XPost: uk.radio.amateur

    On 25/12/2021 15:45, Roger Hayter wrote:
    On 25 Dec 2021 at 14:25:15 GMT, ""Jim GM4DHJ ..."" <kinvig.netta@ntlworld.com>
    wrote:

    On 25/12/2021 12:33, MW1CFN via rec.radio.amateur.moderated Admin wrote:

    Real-World Amateur Radio

    ///////////////////////////////////////////
    IARU: more crap

    Posted: 24 Dec 2021 02:56 AM PST
    https://mw1cfnradio.blogspot.com/2021/12/iaru-more-crap.html



    IARU Region 1 seems to have been busy of late with what it describes as >>> taking control of the future of amateur radio, rather than being
    controlled by the future.

    This is a very good idea. But I'm not sure IARU has carried it off.
    Indeed, the outcome of this exercise, which involved a large number of
    member societies, seems to end-up repeating the same old rubbish that
    we've heard coming from the mouths of rich, retired white people for
    decades.
    Consider, for example, this sentence:"Amateur radio is seen to be
    providing social, economic, educational,and other benefits to
    society"Well, at an individual level, I suppose there are certainly
    social and educational benefits. But to society as a whole? I'm not so >>> sure. And who does IARU believe 'sees' radio to be like this?
    Certainly not the general public. Using the words 'other benefits' is
    nebulous, and weak.
    If you ask a person in the street, or they come across you whilst out
    portable, amongst the public, then I can very confidently say that about >>> 95% of them could not tell you a single thing about amateur radio.
    Most, feeling pressed to say anything at all, will tend to blurt-out the >>> words 'CB, is it?' And there, I think, is the main battlefront for
    amateur radio: its sheer unknown-ness to the general public.That's not
    to say the public aren't interested; I think they very much are. A lot
    of retired-age people who come to talk to me when they see me out on the >>> coast will say how much their young grandchildren would enjoy having a
    go at radio. They go on to say it would be a lot better than staring at >>> a mobile phone. Of course, they're absolutely right!
    If you don't slap CB down when the public mention it as something they
    remember from the dim past about radio, then they are much more likely
    to take longer to talk to you about it. I often say 'I started off
    after a period with CB.' And that was true for very many of us older
    than about 50 years today.
    It's also true that a fair number of people seeing an antenna will try
    to see what's going on, but won't engage and won't come to ask. They
    mumble with one another that it's probably something illegal, or wonder
    whether the operator has permission to put an antenna up in such a
    beautiful spot.
    This is almost certainly stoked by the idea amongst the public that
    amateur radio operators are socially withdrawn, 'anorak' types who lock
    themselves away in man-sheds. And let's be honest, a lot of us are like >>> that. We may not be unfriendly, but we can certainly appear to be. In
    the UK, certainly, amateur radio was widely held for decades by
    participants to set them apart from - and above - the rest of society.
    The need to pass a fairly involved, 90 minute, largely electronics-based >>> examination, plus the mystique of knowing Morse code, essential until
    very recently to get onto the HF bands, made these people, they
    imagined, 'special'. A large fraction of the radio community back then
    were well-paid career electronics workers who could afford and/or build
    their ham equipment. This just reinforced their separation from the
    general population. These attitudes were quite effective in isolating
    amateur radio from the general public, who were even seen as unwelcome
    threats to the hobby when they came to it via the CB route.
    IARU goes on, inevitably, to claim that:"Amateur radio is seen as a
    welcoming and accessible activity for people of all ages, backgrounds,
    genders, and ethnicities, providing fun, social community and personal
    development" Well, I had to laugh at that! Considering that 50% of
    humanity is female, there are essentially no women in amateur radio.
    Ethnic minorities are seriously under-represented in countries like the
    UK and the US, especially when it comes to positions in radio
    societies. I don't think that women and ethnic minorities find amateur
    radio welcoming at all. If they did, they would be participating. I
    also found the following rather odd, to the point of surely being wholly >>> false:"Amateur radio has an extensive media presence from its
    accessibility to new entrants to its high value technical and scientific >>> contribution".Does it? I can only recall one mainstream media article
    about amateur radio in the past several years. Even then, where the BBC >>> tried to present a positive image for us, it was entitled 'The very
    particular world of amateur radio'. You can still watch it here, and
    I'll let you sit back, imagine you're a non-amateur radio person, and
    think: 'is this really painting a good picture of us, or just
    lightheartedly reinforcing what the public think of us already?' Or,
    maybe more usefully: 'will this encourage more people to rush out and
    join up?'I'm not at all persuaded that IARU has a strategy that will
    work for the future. Reading through their list of 'Strategic
    Objectives', you find that they are not so much aims for the future, but >>> simply statements of how some contributors to the exercise see amateur
    radio today - or, actually, how it was, a long time ago. This feeling
    is only made worse when you look at the flowchart under 'What happens
    now?', which seems like a recipe for more committees or something.For my >>> money, I would make these suggestions to IARU:(1) Recognise that the
    management of radio societies are typically highly skewed in terms of
    ethnicity, age, gender and socio-economic security. They are highly
    unrepresentative of society as a whole, and unlikely to understand why
    people not like them are not joining the hobby. Indeed, they are
    unlikely to perceive, or reject the case, that there is any problem at
    all. The problems begin here.
    (2) The perception of amateur radio that matters isn't found from within >>> the existing amateur radio population itself. Rather, to ensure the
    future of amateur radio, and to break down the clear, existing barriers
    to participation, we need to ask the general public what they think of
    us. Only then can we find out where the negative impressions of our
    hobby lie (although many of us can readily tell you this!)(3) Stop
    claiming things about amateur radio that have little foundation in
    reality. More especially, stop claiming that a reasonable justification >>> for amateur radio's value is found in 'emergency communications'. Of
    couse, radio can provide some relief in emergencies. It's just that, in >>> practice, almost nobody involved in the hobby will ever use radio in
    this way. I doubt most people who may be interested in joining would
    want to do so to pretend being some kind of emergency responder in a
    yellow jacket, anyway.(4) The claim that amateur radio provides skilled
    people to industry is almost certainly false inasmuch as it is in any
    way a good reason to support radio. We all know that radio is
    overwhelmingly a hobby of the ageing male population. Those aren't
    working-age people of value to industry, although they are by no means
    without value in terms of teaching others, for example.(5) Be honest
    about where we stand. We're seen as rather odd, highly-technical and
    anti-social people who hide away in sheds, surrounded by
    incomprehensible electronic stuff. We won't appeal to a new generation
    of enthusiasts unless we tackle these images first. There are plenty of >>> other things to tackle, too. The UK regulator, OFCOM, for example, has
    next-to-no interest in the amateur service. A year ago, it imposed
    complex and wholly needless EM safety regulations in response to panic
    amongst the ignorant public about 5G internet. When asked, absolutely
    nobody, including OFCOM, were able to provide scientific evidence that
    provided a basis for their imposition of these ridiculous rules. There
    is no point having a strategy for amateur radio when regulators just
    stamp their feet at random, with no basis for their actions, and
    seemingly nobody being able to challenge them.



    wall of text

    Blame the rec.radio.info people for stealing the text from the original html and losing the formatting along the way. It's ok on the linked web site.

    oh right

    --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05
    * Origin: fsxNet Usenet Gateway (21:1/5)
  • From Roger Hayter@21:1/5 to All on Sat Dec 25 20:47:58 2021
    XPost: uk.radio.amateur

    On 25 Dec 2021 at 18:06:07 GMT, ""Jim GM4DHJ ..."" <kinvig.netta@ntlworld.com> wrote:

    On 25/12/2021 15:45, Roger Hayter wrote:
    On 25 Dec 2021 at 14:25:15 GMT, ""Jim GM4DHJ ..."" <kinvig.netta@ntlworld.com>
    wrote:

    On 25/12/2021 12:33, MW1CFN via rec.radio.amateur.moderated Admin wrote: >>>>
    Real-World Amateur Radio

    ///////////////////////////////////////////
    IARU: more crap

    Posted: 24 Dec 2021 02:56 AM PST
    https://mw1cfnradio.blogspot.com/2021/12/iaru-more-crap.html



    IARU Region 1 seems to have been busy of late with what it describes as >>>> taking control of the future of amateur radio, rather than being
    controlled by the future.

    This is a very good idea. But I'm not sure IARU has carried it off.
    Indeed, the outcome of this exercise, which involved a large number of >>>> member societies, seems to end-up repeating the same old rubbish that >>>> we've heard coming from the mouths of rich, retired white people for
    decades.
    Consider, for example, this sentence:"Amateur radio is seen to be
    providing social, economic, educational,and other benefits to
    society"Well, at an individual level, I suppose there are certainly
    social and educational benefits. But to society as a whole? I'm not so >>>> sure. And who does IARU believe 'sees' radio to be like this?
    Certainly not the general public. Using the words 'other benefits' is
    nebulous, and weak.
    If you ask a person in the street, or they come across you whilst out
    portable, amongst the public, then I can very confidently say that about >>>> 95% of them could not tell you a single thing about amateur radio.
    Most, feeling pressed to say anything at all, will tend to blurt-out the >>>> words 'CB, is it?' And there, I think, is the main battlefront for
    amateur radio: its sheer unknown-ness to the general public.That's not >>>> to say the public aren't interested; I think they very much are. A lot >>>> of retired-age people who come to talk to me when they see me out on the >>>> coast will say how much their young grandchildren would enjoy having a >>>> go at radio. They go on to say it would be a lot better than staring at >>>> a mobile phone. Of course, they're absolutely right!
    If you don't slap CB down when the public mention it as something they >>>> remember from the dim past about radio, then they are much more likely >>>> to take longer to talk to you about it. I often say 'I started off
    after a period with CB.' And that was true for very many of us older
    than about 50 years today.
    It's also true that a fair number of people seeing an antenna will try >>>> to see what's going on, but won't engage and won't come to ask. They
    mumble with one another that it's probably something illegal, or wonder >>>> whether the operator has permission to put an antenna up in such a
    beautiful spot.
    This is almost certainly stoked by the idea amongst the public that
    amateur radio operators are socially withdrawn, 'anorak' types who lock >>>> themselves away in man-sheds. And let's be honest, a lot of us are like >>>> that. We may not be unfriendly, but we can certainly appear to be. In >>>> the UK, certainly, amateur radio was widely held for decades by
    participants to set them apart from - and above - the rest of society. >>>> The need to pass a fairly involved, 90 minute, largely electronics-based >>>> examination, plus the mystique of knowing Morse code, essential until
    very recently to get onto the HF bands, made these people, they
    imagined, 'special'. A large fraction of the radio community back then >>>> were well-paid career electronics workers who could afford and/or build >>>> their ham equipment. This just reinforced their separation from the
    general population. These attitudes were quite effective in isolating
    amateur radio from the general public, who were even seen as unwelcome >>>> threats to the hobby when they came to it via the CB route.
    IARU goes on, inevitably, to claim that:"Amateur radio is seen as a
    welcoming and accessible activity for people of all ages, backgrounds, >>>> genders, and ethnicities, providing fun, social community and personal >>>> development" Well, I had to laugh at that! Considering that 50% of
    humanity is female, there are essentially no women in amateur radio.
    Ethnic minorities are seriously under-represented in countries like the >>>> UK and the US, especially when it comes to positions in radio
    societies. I don't think that women and ethnic minorities find amateur >>>> radio welcoming at all. If they did, they would be participating. I
    also found the following rather odd, to the point of surely being wholly >>>> false:"Amateur radio has an extensive media presence from its
    accessibility to new entrants to its high value technical and scientific >>>> contribution".Does it? I can only recall one mainstream media article >>>> about amateur radio in the past several years. Even then, where the BBC >>>> tried to present a positive image for us, it was entitled 'The very
    particular world of amateur radio'. You can still watch it here, and
    I'll let you sit back, imagine you're a non-amateur radio person, and
    think: 'is this really painting a good picture of us, or just
    lightheartedly reinforcing what the public think of us already?' Or,
    maybe more usefully: 'will this encourage more people to rush out and
    join up?'I'm not at all persuaded that IARU has a strategy that will
    work for the future. Reading through their list of 'Strategic
    Objectives', you find that they are not so much aims for the future, but >>>> simply statements of how some contributors to the exercise see amateur >>>> radio today - or, actually, how it was, a long time ago. This feeling >>>> is only made worse when you look at the flowchart under 'What happens
    now?', which seems like a recipe for more committees or something.For my >>>> money, I would make these suggestions to IARU:(1) Recognise that the
    management of radio societies are typically highly skewed in terms of
    ethnicity, age, gender and socio-economic security. They are highly
    unrepresentative of society as a whole, and unlikely to understand why >>>> people not like them are not joining the hobby. Indeed, they are
    unlikely to perceive, or reject the case, that there is any problem at >>>> all. The problems begin here.
    (2) The perception of amateur radio that matters isn't found from within >>>> the existing amateur radio population itself. Rather, to ensure the
    future of amateur radio, and to break down the clear, existing barriers >>>> to participation, we need to ask the general public what they think of >>>> us. Only then can we find out where the negative impressions of our
    hobby lie (although many of us can readily tell you this!)(3) Stop
    claiming things about amateur radio that have little foundation in
    reality. More especially, stop claiming that a reasonable justification >>>> for amateur radio's value is found in 'emergency communications'. Of
    couse, radio can provide some relief in emergencies. It's just that, in >>>> practice, almost nobody involved in the hobby will ever use radio in
    this way. I doubt most people who may be interested in joining would
    want to do so to pretend being some kind of emergency responder in a
    yellow jacket, anyway.(4) The claim that amateur radio provides skilled >>>> people to industry is almost certainly false inasmuch as it is in any
    way a good reason to support radio. We all know that radio is
    overwhelmingly a hobby of the ageing male population. Those aren't
    working-age people of value to industry, although they are by no means >>>> without value in terms of teaching others, for example.(5) Be honest
    about where we stand. We're seen as rather odd, highly-technical and
    anti-social people who hide away in sheds, surrounded by
    incomprehensible electronic stuff. We won't appeal to a new generation >>>> of enthusiasts unless we tackle these images first. There are plenty of >>>> other things to tackle, too. The UK regulator, OFCOM, for example, has >>>> next-to-no interest in the amateur service. A year ago, it imposed
    complex and wholly needless EM safety regulations in response to panic >>>> amongst the ignorant public about 5G internet. When asked, absolutely >>>> nobody, including OFCOM, were able to provide scientific evidence that >>>> provided a basis for their imposition of these ridiculous rules. There >>>> is no point having a strategy for amateur radio when regulators just
    stamp their feet at random, with no basis for their actions, and
    seemingly nobody being able to challenge them.



    wall of text

    Blame the rec.radio.info people for stealing the text from the original html >> and losing the formatting along the way. It's ok on the linked web site.

    what was it about?.... life is too short to read it....

    I didn't actually read it. But it was formatted nicely.

    --
    Roger Hayter

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  • From Spike@21:1/5 to Roger Hayter on Sun Dec 26 09:26:50 2021
    XPost: uk.radio.amateur

    On 25/12/2021 15:45, Roger Hayter wrote:
    ""Jim GM4DHJ ..."" <kinvig.netta@ntlworld.com> wrote:

    Real-World Amateur Radio

    ///////////////////////////////////////////
    IARU: more crap

    Posted: 24 Dec 2021 02:56 AM PST
    https://mw1cfnradio.blogspot.com/2021/12/iaru-more-crap.html

    IARU Region 1 seems to have been busy of late with what it describes as >>> taking control of the future of amateur radio, rather than being
    controlled by the future.

    This is a very good idea. But I'm not sure IARU has carried it off.
    Indeed, the outcome of this exercise, which involved a large number of
    member societies, seems to end-up repeating the same old rubbish that
    we've heard coming from the mouths of rich, retired white people for
    decades.

    <very big snip>

    Blame the rec.radio.info people for stealing the text from the original html and losing the formatting along the way. It's ok on the linked web site.

    I gave up when I got to "...the same old rubbish that we've heard coming
    from the mouths of rich, retired white people for decades".


    --
    Spike

    --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05
    * Origin: fsxNet Usenet Gateway (21:1/5)
  • From Jim GM4DHJ ...@21:1/5 to Spike on Sun Dec 26 09:57:32 2021
    XPost: uk.radio.amateur

    On 26/12/2021 09:26, Spike wrote:
    On 25/12/2021 15:45, Roger Hayter wrote:
    ""Jim GM4DHJ ..."" <kinvig.netta@ntlworld.com> wrote:

    Real-World Amateur Radio

    ///////////////////////////////////////////
    IARU: more crap

    Posted: 24 Dec 2021 02:56 AM PST
    https://mw1cfnradio.blogspot.com/2021/12/iaru-more-crap.html

    IARU Region 1 seems to have been busy of late with what it describes as >>>> taking control of the future of amateur radio, rather than being
    controlled by the future.

    This is a very good idea. But I'm not sure IARU has carried it off.
    Indeed, the outcome of this exercise, which involved a large number of >>>> member societies, seems to end-up repeating the same old rubbish that >>>> we've heard coming from the mouths of rich, retired white people for
    decades.

    <very big snip>

    Blame the rec.radio.info people for stealing the text from the original html >> and losing the formatting along the way. It's ok on the linked web site.

    I gave up when I got to "...the same old rubbish that we've heard coming
    from the mouths of rich, retired white people for decades".


    yes what has that got to do with hammy mens radios ? ....what is the
    percentage of UK blacks in the hobby I would say0.001 %

    --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05
    * Origin: fsxNet Usenet Gateway (21:1/5)
  • From Spike@21:1/5 to Roger Hayter on Sun Dec 26 10:40:11 2021
    XPost: uk.radio.amateur

    On 26/12/2021 10:33, Roger Hayter wrote:
    ""Jim GM4DHJ ..."" <kinvig.nett@ntlworld.com> wrote:
    On 26/12/2021 09:26, Spike wrote:
    On 25/12/2021 15:45, Roger Hayter wrote:
    ""Jim GM4DHJ ..."" <kinvig.netta@ntlworld.com> wrote:

    Real-World Amateur Radio

    ///////////////////////////////////////////
    IARU: more crap

    Posted: 24 Dec 2021 02:56 AM PST
    https://mw1cfnradio.blogspot.com/2021/12/iaru-more-crap.html

    IARU Region 1 seems to have been busy of late with what it describes as >>>>>> taking control of the future of amateur radio, rather than being
    controlled by the future.

    This is a very good idea. But I'm not sure IARU has carried it off. >>>>>> Indeed, the outcome of this exercise, which involved a large number of >>>>>> member societies, seems to end-up repeating the same old rubbish that >>>>>> we've heard coming from the mouths of rich, retired white people for >>>>>> decades.

    <very big snip>

    Blame the rec.radio.info people for stealing the text from the original html
    and losing the formatting along the way. It's ok on the linked web site.

    I gave up when I got to "...the same old rubbish that we've heard coming >>> from the mouths of rich, retired white people for decades".

    yes what has that got to do with hammy mens radios ? ....what is the
    percentage of UK blacks in the hobby I would say0.001 %

    And could that be just the point he is making??

    But what was the point of his point? On the face of it, the remarks
    looks just like mere virtue-signalling.


    --
    Spike

    --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05
    * Origin: fsxNet Usenet Gateway (21:1/5)
  • From Roger Hayter@21:1/5 to All on Sun Dec 26 10:33:27 2021
    XPost: uk.radio.amateur

    On 26 Dec 2021 at 09:57:32 GMT, ""Jim GM4DHJ ..."" <kinvig.nett@ntlworld.com> wrote:

    On 26/12/2021 09:26, Spike wrote:
    On 25/12/2021 15:45, Roger Hayter wrote:
    ""Jim GM4DHJ ..."" <kinvig.netta@ntlworld.com> wrote:

    Real-World Amateur Radio

    ///////////////////////////////////////////
    IARU: more crap

    Posted: 24 Dec 2021 02:56 AM PST
    https://mw1cfnradio.blogspot.com/2021/12/iaru-more-crap.html

    IARU Region 1 seems to have been busy of late with what it describes as >>>>> taking control of the future of amateur radio, rather than being
    controlled by the future.

    This is a very good idea. But I'm not sure IARU has carried it off. >>>>> Indeed, the outcome of this exercise, which involved a large number of >>>>> member societies, seems to end-up repeating the same old rubbish that >>>>> we've heard coming from the mouths of rich, retired white people for >>>>> decades.

    <very big snip>

    Blame the rec.radio.info people for stealing the text from the original html
    and losing the formatting along the way. It's ok on the linked web site.

    I gave up when I got to "...the same old rubbish that we've heard coming
    from the mouths of rich, retired white people for decades".


    yes what has that got to do with hammy mens radios ? ....what is the percentage of UK blacks in the hobby I would say0.001 %

    And could that be just the point he is making?? Or do you think it is some
    kind of law of nature?

    --
    Roger Hayter

    --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05
    * Origin: fsxNet Usenet Gateway (21:1/5)
  • From Jim GM4DHJ ...@21:1/5 to Spike on Sun Dec 26 13:13:34 2021
    XPost: uk.radio.amateur

    On 26/12/2021 10:40, Spike wrote:
    On 26/12/2021 10:33, Roger Hayter wrote:
    ""Jim GM4DHJ ..."" <kinvig.nett@ntlworld.com> wrote:
    On 26/12/2021 09:26, Spike wrote:
    On 25/12/2021 15:45, Roger Hayter wrote:
    ""Jim GM4DHJ ..."" <kinvig.netta@ntlworld.com> wrote:

    Real-World Amateur Radio

    ///////////////////////////////////////////
    IARU: more crap

    Posted: 24 Dec 2021 02:56 AM PST
    https://mw1cfnradio.blogspot.com/2021/12/iaru-more-crap.html

    IARU Region 1 seems to have been busy of late with what it describes as
    taking control of the future of amateur radio, rather than being >>>>>>> controlled by the future.

    This is a very good idea. But I'm not sure IARU has carried it off. >>>>>>> Indeed, the outcome of this exercise, which involved a large number of >>>>>>> member societies, seems to end-up repeating the same old rubbish that >>>>>>> we've heard coming from the mouths of rich, retired white people for >>>>>>> decades.

    <very big snip>

    Blame the rec.radio.info people for stealing the text from the original html
    and losing the formatting along the way. It's ok on the linked web site.

    I gave up when I got to "...the same old rubbish that we've heard coming >>>> from the mouths of rich, retired white people for decades".

    yes what has that got to do with hammy mens radios ? ....what is the
    percentage of UK blacks in the hobby I would say0.001 %

    And could that be just the point he is making??

    But what was the point of his point? On the face of it, the remarks
    looks just like mere virtue-signalling.


    just what we need in hammy mens radio

    --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05
    * Origin: fsxNet Usenet Gateway (21:1/5)
  • From Jim GM4DHJ ...@21:1/5 to Roger Hayter on Sun Dec 26 13:12:58 2021
    XPost: uk.radio.amateur

    On 26/12/2021 10:33, Roger Hayter wrote:
    On 26 Dec 2021 at 09:57:32 GMT, ""Jim GM4DHJ ..."" <kinvig.nett@ntlworld.com> wrote:

    On 26/12/2021 09:26, Spike wrote:
    On 25/12/2021 15:45, Roger Hayter wrote:
    ""Jim GM4DHJ ..."" <kinvig.netta@ntlworld.com> wrote:

    Real-World Amateur Radio

    ///////////////////////////////////////////
    IARU: more crap

    Posted: 24 Dec 2021 02:56 AM PST
    https://mw1cfnradio.blogspot.com/2021/12/iaru-more-crap.html

    IARU Region 1 seems to have been busy of late with what it describes as >>>>>> taking control of the future of amateur radio, rather than being
    controlled by the future.

    This is a very good idea. But I'm not sure IARU has carried it off. >>>>>> Indeed, the outcome of this exercise, which involved a large number of >>>>>> member societies, seems to end-up repeating the same old rubbish that >>>>>> we've heard coming from the mouths of rich, retired white people for >>>>>> decades.

    <very big snip>

    Blame the rec.radio.info people for stealing the text from the original html
    and losing the formatting along the way. It's ok on the linked web site. >>>
    I gave up when I got to "...the same old rubbish that we've heard coming >>> from the mouths of rich, retired white people for decades".


    yes what has that got to do with hammy mens radios ? ....what is the
    percentage of UK blacks in the hobby I would say0.001 %

    And could that be just the point he is making?? Or do you think it is some kind of law of nature?

    colourds are more interested in making it than wasting their time on
    stupid hobbies for no gain ....

    --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05
    * Origin: fsxNet Usenet Gateway (21:1/5)
  • From Jim GM4DHJ ...@21:1/5 to Roger Hayter on Mon Dec 27 08:30:38 2021
    XPost: uk.radio.amateur

    On 26/12/2021 10:33, Roger Hayter wrote:
    On 26 Dec 2021 at 09:57:32 GMT, ""Jim GM4DHJ ..."" <kinvig.nett@ntlworld.com> wrote:

    On 26/12/2021 09:26, Spike wrote:
    On 25/12/2021 15:45, Roger Hayter wrote:
    ""Jim GM4DHJ ..."" <kinvig.netta@ntlworld.com> wrote:

    Real-World Amateur Radio

    ///////////////////////////////////////////
    IARU: more crap

    Posted: 24 Dec 2021 02:56 AM PST
    https://mw1cfnradio.blogspot.com/2021/12/iaru-more-crap.html

    IARU Region 1 seems to have been busy of late with what it describes as >>>>>> taking control of the future of amateur radio, rather than being
    controlled by the future.

    This is a very good idea. But I'm not sure IARU has carried it off. >>>>>> Indeed, the outcome of this exercise, which involved a large number of >>>>>> member societies, seems to end-up repeating the same old rubbish that >>>>>> we've heard coming from the mouths of rich, retired white people for >>>>>> decades.

    <very big snip>

    Blame the rec.radio.info people for stealing the text from the original html
    and losing the formatting along the way. It's ok on the linked web site. >>>
    I gave up when I got to "...the same old rubbish that we've heard coming >>> from the mouths of rich, retired white people for decades".


    yes what has that got to do with hammy mens radios ? ....what is the
    percentage of UK blacks in the hobby I would say0.001 %

    And could that be just the point he is making?? Or do you think it is some kind of law of nature?

    so whites are to blame for blacks not being interested in ham radio then ?.....or are they just not interested in a hobby where they can't
    complain about being discriminated against ? ....

    --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05
    * Origin: fsxNet Usenet Gateway (21:1/5)