ARRL Non-Renewal

[Opcom]

I renewed. The ARRL is not perfect, but I think they have done some good. As far as a magazine, QST could be better, just like the MVPA's (,ilitary vehicle preservation association) magazines could be better. So I also subscribe to the independent "military vehicles" magazine. Maybe I could also subscribe to QEX, or whatever other radio magazine pleases me. To be honest I have not looked at all the radio publications.

The ARRL's many other publications are valuable. I will say that I am always happy when I can give an old ARRL handbook (80's to 90's) to someone that is just starting out and trying to learn why an antenna works, or other such trivial things we ourselves mostly take for granted. Because of these publications, which are easily recognizable, and take a reader from the basics through to things they probably can't ever build, the organization does contribute tangible value IMHO. I am no suck-up to the league, but I do appreciate the lobbying and other stuff as well.

I am mentoring a young man, who, if he manages to avoid electrocuting himself, might become a radio operator some day, or at least might become an engineer. He brought over a bizzarre experiment and asked me to explain it. He had a microwave oven transformer which as we know has the cold end of the secondary connected to frame. He had connected a large metal ball electrode (12" size) to the frame, and then set up a spark gap between the HV terminal and the ground of the wall plug. When an arc (and it was a weak one) was drawn in the gap, he noted the metal sphere became charged with AC voltage. The frame of the transformer was obviously a little hot.. The arc of a few milliamperes was drawn using the path from the AC mains ground to the neutral (in the breaker box) and back through the capacitance of the primary winding to the transformer frame. So once I saw this, and explained it, and drew the equivalent circuit out on a pizza box, it became more clear as to why the frame and therefore the metal sphere was hot. I also explained that should the insulation between the primary winding and the transformer core fail, things including the spark gap's arc, would light up spectacularly. I took the opportunity to discourage this kind of experiment. No problem, said he, "I have several of these in series in buckets of oil". Then he wanted to know what would happen if he increased the capacitance between the mains winding and the core until it was resonant with the secondary winding at 60Hz. I pointed out the dangers that could instantly arise in case of any kind of short or in case of resonanaces like that. He has a huge collection of oil capacitors just for these experiments, see. I hope he does not burn his mom's house down. Anyway, I sent him home with a 1989 ARRL handbook, antenna book, and a stack of engineering texts on electromagnetic fields and math, hardware including rackmount magnetic circuit breakers, wire, etc., and a used pair of 4-400's. I don't know what he wanted them for, but I wan't using them, and he did help me clean up the lab and hang a troffer style light fixture from the 12 FT ceiling. He likes helping me clean up the lab, garage, etc.

The point of this whole story I suppose is that the ARRL's books and magazines, given to me second-hand at a young age, got me started in electronics before I was old enough to own a soldering gun. Beyond very simple electronics and changing tubes in the TV set, I had no one to ask questions of; my father would have answered on advanced topics but he is an air force pilot, not a radioman and he did well to fix the TV in those days. To me, the books of the ARRL past and present exonerate it from all but the most gevious faults. If the QST rag is not deemed sufficient, I will add another rag to my subscription(s). I would rather try to help fix or advise the ARRL than ignore or forsake it.

[Carl WA1KPD]

I renewed. The ARRL is not perfect, but I think they have done some good. ..............

I am mentoring a young man, who, if he manages to avoid electrocuting himself, might become a radio operator

Opcom....You just made me realize.... "No code" did not dumb down HR, low voltage did!
In the old days you could depend on a strapperesq supply and the Darwinian theory to sort em out. Now that natural selection plan is gone

73,
Carl /KPD

[ka3zlr]

Well Obviously alot can be done, and has been done by concerned Licensed Amateurs with regard to the Service, membership does not grant any specific privilege.

Any Voice Can be Heard if placed correctly, and if Concern is the issue with both parties., problem arises when Politics enters the arena, as with all things Bureaucracy related.

[Opcom]

I renewed. The ARRL is not perfect, but I think they have done some good. ..............

I am mentoring a young man, who, if he manages to avoid electrocuting himself, might become a radio operator

Opcom....You just made me realize.... "No code" did not dumb down HR, low voltage did!
In the old days you could depend on a strapperesq supply and the Darwinian theory to sort em out. Now that natural selection plan is gone

73,
Carl /KPD

Thank you sir. I've been postulating that for decades, but some code-or-die extremists regarded this opinion as just more evidence of my dullness and indolence. (The word "indolence" or "indolent" was used in comments to the FCC many times during what might some day be humorously regarded as the "code wars" {see UNIX wars..}) Never was there so heated a debate in ham radio. I am certainly not against code. I instead prefer to experiment with AM and FM. I never let the CW requirement stop me from my radio work. I have the patience of a cat, and was always content to use dummy loads.

Since I advocated the lifting of the code requirement and simultaneously advocated the use of AM, and made what the plastic-radio slopbucketeers would call "rather generous" cases for what is the "minimum necessary bandwidth", I sometimes received foul e-mails from other ham radio operators.
It's not my fault if I, in the effort to show what is documented as "minimum necessary" for intelligibility, opened the ancient volumes and quoted The Great Masters such as Terman, et. al. Invoking Terman in a comment to the FCC is a thing not taken lightly. No one can refute it.
I also advocated that the General and higher tests be made somewhat more technically challenging to promote better understanding of what radio is, rather than how to push buttons. Nobody called me out on that though.

One of the angry CW & anti-AM fellows' unsolicited e-mail to me was so out-of-spirit for ham radio, even scatological, that I was compelled to use it as an exhibit in a comment to the FCC, as an example of emotion-based noise and hatred, not to be confused with reason and information. It now occupies a prominent place as a matter of public record in the FCC repository for the forseeable future, replete with the fellow's call, name, and e-mail address. He cannot complain, I made him famous.

As far as others' membership in the ARRL, I have no dog in the fight. I chose it, it's a free country.

Sorry to be long winded. I am practicing for field day.

[Steve - WB3HUZ]

And it always surprised me that most people didn't realize when the code war was over. It was effectively over when the FCC removed the code requirement for the Tech license. At that point you could have access to 99% of the amateur radio spectrum and not have to learn any code. Yet, idiots on both sides continued to rage on for years after.