Jim, Although you are about 5 years younger than me, we were probably licensed not too far apart (my original calls were WN9HXP/WA9HXP). Things have changed over the years. In my view, it is not reasonable to value all of the five principles equally. I do think it is reasonable that the items listed first may be considered the most important. I consider international goodwill a very minor aspect of amateur radio, and it is listed last, but every bit helps.
Back in the 1960's when I was first licensed, we were very much involved with emergency communications. In fact, it was 1965 when I was involved in an extended emergency situation in Wisconsin due to severe flooding of the Mississippi River that took out most communications between portions of the city where I went to college. We used 2 meter AM voice for most of the traffic and also some HF mobile with phone patching to the Mayor, etc. If you go back to QST articles in that time frame, you will see that "Public Service" was a column in the magazine even then. So this is nothing new. Unless you consider 40 years ago to be "new." In the early days, the ability of the government to have a ready pool of trained operators (especially CW operators) was of national security importance. That is no longer the case in today's world. 73, Rick, KV9U jgorman01 wrote: > I'm sorry but you need to do a little more historical research. > Amateur Radio was/is primarily authorized because of items 97.1 > (b)(c)(d). Amateur Radio has been around, recognized, and authorized > by the US Government since the early 1900's. Early amateurs were > recognized for their contributions to the radio art and as trained > operators, especially for the military. Emcomms did not exist in the > early days of amateur radio and was not why Amateur Radio was > allocated the frequency bands we currently enjoy. > > One of the histories shows that "In 1924, Amateurs received new bands > at 80, 40, 20, and 5 meters." At the time, they were considered > pretty unimportant. I am sure these allocations weren't made because > of our contributions to emcomms. > > Do a google on "history of amateur radio" and read some of the many > articles and pages devoted to our history. You won't find emcomms > mentioned anywhere until relatively recently! > > And, Part 97.1 (a) implicitly recognizes other values of the amateur > service by the simple mention of just one of them. This mention of > one item (emergency communications) does not mean it is the 'primary' > reason that amateur radio is authorized. If they meant 'primary', in > other words more important than the others, then that is what they > would have said. Instead, the rules use the word 'particularly' which > is a totally different connotation, i.e. special attention given to > this one item. > > Also, I am not a lawyer so maybe someone who is can give a better or > more accurate interpretation, but in my training of dealing with labor > law and union contracts, if the authors intended one principle to be > more important than another, they would have said so in no uncertain > terms. With no indication that the principles are ranked in order of > importance, one must assume that they are all equal. > > Jim > WA0LYK > > --- In [email protected], KV9U <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: > > > > In the U.S., amateur radio is primarily authorized because of the > > potential for emergency communications. It is listed as the first of > the > > 5 principles and I always point that out when I teach an entry level > > class for potential new hams. I would not weigh the 5 principles as > > equal, but rather as supporting the overall concept. > > > > My understanding is that in some countries, amateur radio is considered > > more of a hobby to provide activities for the citizens. In the past, > > Japan had a low power HF license without a CW requirement even though > > this conflicted with international agreements. Their view was that this > > was good government policy and took precedence over agreements that > they > > had signed. > > > <snip> > > > > The final analysis is that here in the U.S., amateur radio is an > > activity that is promoted by the government due to the 5 principles. > > Self improvement in radio communications is a "hobby" or avocation, no > > different than learning other hobby disciplines. The only difference > > being that you have to be licensed by the government to take part in > > transmitting a signal. > > > > An active radio amateur will participate in most of these principles at > > one time or another. Those who have a casual interest, will not acquire > > the same knowlege and ability and the more active participants. > > > > 73, > > > > Rick, KV9U Need a Digital mode QSO? Connect to Telnet://cluster.dynalias.org Other areas of interest: The MixW Reflector : http://groups.yahoo.com/group/themixwgroup/ DigiPol: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/Digipol (band plan policy discussion) Yahoo! Groups Links <*> To visit your group on the web, go to: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/digitalradio/ <*> To unsubscribe from this group, send an email to: [EMAIL PROTECTED] <*> Your use of Yahoo! Groups is subject to: http://docs.yahoo.com/info/terms/
