A "political" topic that IS related to amateur radio and AM

[k4kyv]

A well-known amateur radio personality, and self-proclaimed AM'er (although I have yet to hear him on the air) is being bashed on another message board because he made the following public statement:

We are not the greatest nation on earth. We think we are but we aren't and we aren't the greatest people. Look at the evening news for about a week if you don't realize that. And think about what the rest of the world sees going on in America.

What we ARE is this: "We are rude, self important, cell phone yapping, road raging, and stressed out monsters behind the wheel."

If you don't already know who it is, click on the link below to find out:
http://www.w5yi.org/ama_news_article.php?id=183

[Bill, KD0HG]

I think Riley needs to get out of DC for a while.

[kf6pqt]

Uhm, if he thinks we're not the greatest nation on the planet, (and we ARE, despite our coach-potato-ing from the end of the cold war) than just WHO does he think is?

Maybe he needs to go looking for the former Soviet Union and move there. Why do the America haters always go for government jobs?

[KF1Z]

Luckily, the more "off" comments were not WilliamR. Hollingsworth's..
But he hid behind David Sumner's comments (all in quotes)....


Anyway. I DID get a kick out ouf this quote....

"And the so-called "net" on 75 that bills itself as an "Oasis of Amateur Radio": Give us all a break. You are an ordinary roundtable. And no net is an "Oasis of Amateur radio."


(Macaroni my arse...)

[K1MVP]

K4KYV A well-known amateur radio personality, and self-proclaimed AM'er (although I have yet to hear him on the air) is being bashed on another message board because he made the following public statement:

We are not the greatest nation on earth. We think we are but we aren't and we aren't the greatest people. Look at the evening news for about a week if you don't realize that. And think about what the rest of the world sees going on in America.

What we ARE is this: "We are rude, self important, cell phone yapping, road raging, and stressed out

We may have our "problems" here in America,--BUT  where else would he rather live in the world?
I may agree with some of his opinions or observations, but there are many which are "questionable", IMO.
                                                    73, K1MVP

[Ott]

A well-known amateur radio personality, and self-proclaimed AM'er (although I have yet to hear him on the air) is being bashed on another message board because he made the following public statement:

We are not the greatest nation on earth. We think we are but we aren't and we aren't the greatest people. Look at the evening news for about a week if you don't realize that. And think about what the rest of the world sees going on in America.

What we ARE is this: "We are rude, self important, cell phone yapping, road raging, and stressed out monsters behind the wheel."

If you don't already know who it is, click on the link below to find out:
http://www.w5yi.org/ama_news_article.php?id=183

Morning Don...

Rilley apparently reads the WSJ...

"We live in an age of great wealth--and lousy manners."

http://www.opinionjournal.com/columnists/pnoonan/?id=110010385

[WA1GFZ]

I was bitching to my old boss once about an idiot we had to deal with.
His comment was we need a few losers around to make us look good.

[KA2PYQ]

Predominantly, and I`m not going to argue the predominance`s
exactness, R H made a pretty good speech. However, bad
people do sometimes make good or better speeches. It`s not
time for us to get unsobre and dizzy over it, though. The
other things he says and the other things he does are all regular
big evil things done by a big evil lawyer amongst his friends who
has an almost exclusive shot aimed at Hams. For those of us who
are not familiar with R H`s fare, whether you`re new to the
subject, or whether you`re tired of the area`s thought right now,
let me awaken you with a dim but apparently good illustration
from inside his here and now and present "good" speech. The
words, "We are....we are....we are....". Which stay linkable with,
what we are. "We are....cell phone....(etc). What we are is an
awful lot of people he will find no excuse, no excuse! not to blame.
Nor pursue nor prosecute persecute attack. In a country like
where for significant example, too many people unquestioningly
watch a TV show bankrolled by Mia Farrow, where police cars
run over endless numbers of victims and watchers could think
that all these people are guilty.
Although we`d be hypocrites and leak harm to think that Hams
and AM`ers and, and, are all as white as porcelain and we
don`t have to consider our faith to each other every now and
then, nor fall into the don`t judge anyone for anything theory,
we should be quick and strongly allied with our friends. We`re
earning our wings quite a bit being Hams and such, but it`s
a quote from everyday life that I think helps most of all-
(the late Rev Martin Luther King jr., in a favorite short speech:
"Be the best of what you can be and the best of what you are"!

[W1VD]

Look at the evening news for about a week if you don't realize that.

Therein lies his problem...

[Bill, KD0HG]

FCC Commissioner: "Riley, please sit down. You've been referred to me by the Surgeon General".

Rlley: "The SURGEON GENERAL? The Fed's top medical officer? What's the deal here?"

Commissioner: "He asked us to promote you to a job that you'd find of interest- We're building a new monitoring station, Rlley, In Miles City, Montana--Just for you!"

Riley: "Ohboy, are you kidding me? R-390s and everything, great big antennas, too?"

Commissioner: "Yes, rhombics, a cabinet full of prescribed medication, a crystal-controlled receiver locked on 3950 and a hotline to Dave Summers office. a real RED telephone."

Riley (panting): " Oh boy, Oh boy!"

Commissioner: "Riley, now we want you out of town as soon as possible, OK? Go get 'em!" <winks>

[K1MVP]

Bill,--KD0HG,
That is quite the "scenario" you just described. (gotta love it).
                                               73, K1MVP

[Rick K5IAR]

Predominantly, and I`m not going to argue the predominance`s
exactness, R H made a pretty good speech. However, bad
people do sometimes make good or better speeches. It`s not
time for us to get unsobre and dizzy...

What? 

Rick/K5IAR

[Ian VK3KRI]

Uhm, if he thinks we're not the greatest nation on the planet, (and we ARE, despite our coach-potato-ing from the end of the cold war)

And modest too....
                                Ian VK3KRI

[WB2RJR]

Some people live in countries which need to be modest.

Other people don't.

[Herb K2VH]

      “We must not confuse dissent with disloyalty. When the loyal opposition dies, I think the soul of America dies with it.”
       -- Edward R. Murrow, 1908-1965
           American Journalist
 

[Ed KB1HVS]

      “We must not confuse dissent with disloyalty. When the loyal opposition dies, I think the soul of America dies with it.”
       -- Edward R. Murrow
 

 Thank You Herb..... The voice of reason.

[W1UJR]

It could not be any other way, for the nature of the universe is toward entropy, rather than order. As Rome fell, so goes America, unless the masses are awaked to what Washington termed "Divine Providence" once again.

"Bad men cannot make good citizens. A vitiated state of morals, a corrupted public conscience are incompatible with freedom."
  --  Patrick Henry


In closing, America today, largely through the very policies of the Riley's employer, is not the America of our Founding Fathers. It is no longer the land of Liberty, but instead a land of self-interest.

"When the American spirit was in its youth, the language of America was different: Liberty, sir, was the primary object." 
 -- Patrick Henry

[K1MVP]

      “We must not confuse dissent with disloyalty. When the loyal opposition dies, I think the soul of America dies with it.”
       -- Edward R. Murrow
 

Very "interesting" Herb,--the thing I have found in my experience, or experience`s is that those who
tend to be the most "vocal" in dissent about the problems we face(in our country) these days have never even served one day in the military, to fight for our freedoms.

In fact most of my experience has been(while in the service) that those who do serve, do so--
and do not "complain" about the problems in this country,--they "serve" out of a sense that there
is "a job to get done to make the country better".

                                                  73, K1MVP   

[k4kyv]

America today, largely through the very policies of the Riley's employer, is not the America of our Founding Fathers. It is no longer the land of Liberty, but instead a land of self-interest.

A case in point, from this week's ARRL LETTER:

==> FCC Commissioner Lauds BPL in House Testimony; ARRL Responds

On July 24, FCC Commissioner Jonathan S. Adelstein testified at a House
Subcommittee on Telecommunications and the Internet hearing that "three
of the many urgent priorities we face" include the need for "a national
broadband strategy to ensure the ubiquitous deployment of affordable,
high speed broadband infrastructure to this country." FCC Chairman Kevin
Martin and Commissioners Tate, McDowell and Copps testified as well at
the "Oversight of the Federal Communications Commission" hearing.

ARRL Chief Executive Officer David Sumner, K1ZZ, responded via fax on
July 25 to Commissioner Adelstein's remarks. "I cheered silently when I
came to your reference to the 'current anemic definition of high-speed'
that includes service that is too slow to meet citizens' reasonable
expectations," he wrote. "I was even more impressed with your statement
in the next paragraph, 'We must take a hard look at our successes and
failures.'"

Sumner, however, expressed "great disappointment" over Adelstein's
reference to "broadband over power line" (BPL) as "a technology
deserving of 'increasing incentives for investment.' None of your
colleagues' testimonies contain a similar reference," he pointed out.

Sumner reiterated the ARRL's position with regard to BPL technology and
"its propensity to interfere with radio communication, a flaw that is
not shared by other broadband delivery platforms. As long as
interference is avoided," Sumner said, "it is of no concern to us
whether private investment is devoted to BPL. However, we must object to
your identification of BPL as a technology that is particularly
deserving of favorable public policy treatment."

Calling the FCC's "inexplicable favoritism of BPL in the face of
contrary evidence" one of the Commission's "failures," Sumner noted that
according to the Commission's own latest figures, "of 64,600,000
'high-speed' lines, only about 5000 are BPL. This is a share of 0.008
percent, a share that actually declined in the six-month period between
reports--and if an 'anemic' definition were not used, none of the 5000
or so BPL lines would qualify."

ARRL's concern, Sumner said, at the "prospect of an even greater
encouragement of BPL, as your testimony suggests, is that--even at the
very low level of deployment that exists to date--the FCC's enforcement
efforts have proved to be woefully inadequate to address ongoing cases
of harmful interference from BPL systems."

Sumner went on to note "one example of documented interference
(Enforcement Bureau File No. EB-06-SE-083) has been caused by the
Ambient Corporation's Briarcliff Manor, New York installation for more
than three years without being corrected and without penalty to the
system operator...If the Commission is unable to protect its licensees
from harmful interference from BPL now, it is difficult to imagine how
it will be able to do so should BPL be more widely deployed in the
future."

Sumner also attached a letter from William E. Burton, Chairman of the
Public Safety and Security Committee of the Westchester County Board of
Legislators. Burton's letter described the interference BPL is causing
to local Amateur Radio operators in the village of Briarcliff Manor. He
stressed that the FCC "should require that...Ambient cooperate with the
ARRL and its BPL technical experts forthwith...This would include both
the current experimental system, as well as any future or 'second
generation' technology."

Burton's letter went on to say that "the best way for the FCC to promote
a new technology while protecting public safety...[is to] make clear
that complaints concerning harmful interference are taken seriously."

Sumner concluded his comments: "We respectfully submit that BPL has not
earned a place in the much-needed national broadband strategy to benefit
all Americans. Resources are better devoted elsewhere, to more promising
technologies that do not pose a threat to the Commission's radio service
licensees."

[Steve - WB3HUZ]

Funny stuff. Seems Riley should take his own advice and lighten up. He commented on a ton of things that had nothing to do with enforcement issues. Rather he expounded on his own personal opinions of various operating types and/or modes. Of course his opinions are irrelevent in the enforcement context and are no more valid or important than any other outside that context (he's just another ham).

As a taxpayer, he's there to do enforcement in accordance with Part 97. Doing anything other than this is improper and fiscally (and maybe legally) unacceptable.

Finally, Part 97 says nothing about "wide banders." The term is not found in Part 97. So how could it be an enforcement issue?

Quite silly.

[WA1GFZ]

Riley should have a chance to P&M think of all the cry baby losers he has to deal with in his part 97 quest.

[Steve - WB3HUZ]

He's not being paid to P&M or opinionate. He's getting paid to do enforcement of Part 97. Anything else is BS and invalid. He can P&M as a private citizen, not as an FCC employee.

[k4kyv]

Is he paid to speak at the Dayton FCC forum, or does he do that on his own time?

He doesn't bash AM, but he seems to stay on the widebandsideband crew's case.  There is nothing in Part 97 that limits bandwidth to any specific number, and he emphasised that at a previous forum several years ago.

It's really a matter of common sense.  If the band is congested it's probably not a good idea to run widebandsideband.  When running AM under congested condx I usually kick in my 3400~ low-pass filter, since nearly everyone who would be  receiving my signal would likely have their receivers set to 6 kc/s bandwidth or less and the higher  frequencies would go unappreciated.  But when the band is not congested (and congestion seems to be  less and less a problem these  days) what's wrong with running a 6 kc/s wide SSB signal?

To be a devil's advocate, why is a 6 kc/s wide SSB signal any worse than a 6 kc/s wide AM signal?

[WA1GFZ]

Ah Huz gotta let him P&M a little you don't want the FCC to turn into the post office. Heck I P&M at work sometimes even to my boss and sometimes he P&Ms to me and sometimes we do a group P&M

[Glenn NY4NC]

Don wrote;

"There is nothing in Part 97 that limits bandwidth to any specific number, and he emphasised that at a previous forum several years ago."

So if it isn't in part 97, what enforcement action could be taken against the wideband SSb'ers?? or AM'ers for that matter regarding "bandwidth" ?...

Would that be just an unofficial P&M??