• California: HAM no longer a benefit, dismantling repeaters??

    From Nightfox@21:1/137 to All on Fri Oct 11 10:10:59 2019
    I saw an article online recently saying the state of California has declared HAM radio is no longer a benefit, and they want to dismantle he HAM radio repeater infrastructure. This seems a bit strange, and I'm wondering why? HAM
    radio is still useful, isn't it?

    http://offgridsurvival.com/california-officials-declare-ham-radio-no-longer-a-b
    enefit

    Nightfox
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  • From echicken@21:1/164 to Nightfox on Fri Oct 11 14:12:46 2019
    Re: California: HAM no longer a benefit, dismantling repeaters??
    By: Nightfox to All on Fri Oct 11 2019 10:10:59

    I saw an article online recently saying the state of California has
    declared
    HAM radio is no longer a benefit, and they want to dismantle he HAM radio repeater infrastructure. This seems a bit strange, and I'm wondering why?
    HAM
    radio is still useful, isn't it?

    It *can* be useful but often isn't. It's not as though emergency responders don't already have their own radio systems that work in basically the same way.
    At best, hams can offer communications support to nonprofit groups who don't already have a comms infrastructure.

    My understanding is that California wants to remove the amateur radio components of its emergency plans/procedures, and the want hams to remove any repeater equipment from public spaces (mountaintops, etc.) The former seems reasonable enough, not so much the latter.

    ---
    echicken
    electronic chicken bbs - bbs.electronicchicken.com
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  • From Nightfox@21:1/137 to echicken on Fri Oct 11 12:41:02 2019
    Re: California: HAM no longer a benefit, dismantling repeaters??
    By: echicken to Nightfox on Fri Oct 11 2019 02:12 pm

    It *can* be useful but often isn't. It's not as though emergency responders don't already have their own radio systems that work in basically the same way.
    At best, hams can offer communications support to nonprofit groups who don't already have a comms infrastructure.

    My understanding is that California wants to remove the amateur radio components of its emergency plans/procedures, and the want hams to remove any repeater equipment from public spaces (mountaintops, etc.) The former seems reasonable enough, not so much the latter.

    Aside from emergency situations, I've always thought HAM was also a hobbyist thing, and enabling such a thing always seemed pretty cool to me. HAM radio operators can also participate in events like jogging/bicycling marathons and other sporting events to provide emergency communications services in case something goes wrong, or at least to monitor the event.

    HAM radio has been around for a long time and still exists despite newer advances in communications. Since it's still around, I always thought there's still a use for it and interest in it, so I thought it was odd to hear of a place wanting to dismantle the HAM repeater system.

    Nightfox
    --- SBBSecho 3.10-Win32
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  • From echicken@21:1/164 to Nightfox on Fri Oct 11 16:01:36 2019
    Re: California: HAM no longer a benefit, dismantling repeaters??
    By: Nightfox to echicken on Fri Oct 11 2019 12:41:02

    still a use for it and interest in it, so I thought it was odd to hear of
    a
    place wanting to dismantle the HAM repeater system.

    Unless the state is funding it in some way, or providing space / electricity / etc. for the repeaters to operate, I don't think it's really theirs to dismantle. If they are paying for it or have some official relationship with some ham groups, they should be free to sever those ties if they want.

    advances in communications. Since it's still around, I always thought
    there's
    still a use for it and interest in it, so I thought it was odd to hear of
    a

    I think the point is that it isn't doing anything useful for the state. If it's not costing them anything or causing them any trouble, they should leave it be. Perhaps they've had some trouble with the equipment or the emergency communications groups (these people *are* amateurs, sometimes overzealous, sometimes inept, sometimes both - although they can also be skilled and helpful).

    ---
    echicken
    electronic chicken bbs - bbs.electronicchicken.com
    * Origin: electronic chicken bbs - bbs.electronicchicken.com (21:1/164)
  • From Nightfox@21:1/137 to echicken on Fri Oct 11 14:26:13 2019
    Re: California: HAM no longer a benefit, dismantling repeaters??
    By: echicken to Nightfox on Fri Oct 11 2019 04:01 pm

    I think the point is that it isn't doing anything useful for the state. If it's not costing them anything or causing them any trouble, they should leave it be. Perhaps they've had some trouble with the equipment or the emergency communications groups (these people *are* amateurs, sometimes overzealous, sometimes inept, sometimes both - although they can also be skilled and helpful).

    True.. It might not be useful for the state, but I figured a lot of the HAM infrastructure out there was privately owned & funded (though I'm not sure).

    Nightfox
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  • From garycrunk@21:4/126 to Nightfox on Fri Oct 11 22:36:10 2019
    When I was in the Army, stationed overseas, making phone calls was not really practical... or cheap.

    But on every base, there was a MARS station where you could call via the
    Radio and talk with people at home... and it was free (You could donate). I used the hell out of MARS.

    --- Mystic BBS v1.12 A43 2019/03/03 (Windows/32)
    * Origin: Another F-ing BBS (21:4/126)
  • From tallship@21:2/104 to garycrunk on Sat Oct 12 02:23:00 2019
    On 11 Oct 2019, garycrunk said the following...

    When I was in the Army, stationed overseas, making phone calls was not really practical... or cheap.

    But on every base, there was a MARS station where you could call via the Radio and talk with people at home... and it was free (You could
    donate). I used the hell out of MARS.


    When I was with the DoD, I used to call my friends who were deployed to the
    far flung reaches of the globe that were stationed on Navy ships via the Autovon.

    It was really kinda kewl, coz when a telephone call came in on a warship it
    had a certain priority, and there really wasn't a problem with me making the call, but a couple of my friends were disciplined for abusing the system, as they weren't actually supposed to be entitled to use that network.

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  • From SirRonmit@21:2/120 to garycrunk on Sat Oct 19 16:18:48 2019
    Used that myself whilest in South Korea :)

    Tim N
    admin@f4fbbs.com

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    * Origin: Files 4 Fun BBS (21:2/120)