At the last schedule change one week ago, the BC bands changes drasticaly. The voice of germany has gone, the 6075 now plays holy stuff frm VAT, no more world and german news, no sports – only praying and so on. A very good frequency is given away for humbug.

@Bob Curtis -

73, AL7AW

http://gerryduffett.proboards.com/index.cgi?board=general&action=display&thread=28

……torture

“Radio Waves used as Weapons”

Hello

When I worked in the diesel generator business,
I worked with a lot of communications companies all across Canada.
Bell Canada was a big one I did a lot of work with.
They have “standby diesel generators” at their central offices and all their repeater stations.
A lot of “national security” concerns within these systems.
I worked on a fairly large “fibre optics” project in 1996 into 1997 when I was poisoned for the first time in 1997
People within these systems have more than enough resources to make you “sick” if you ……”step on the wrong toes.”
Lots of surlpus “microwave generators.” and “radio equipment.”
All with “no forensic evidence.”
It just takes one “idiot” to put something together who does not like you.
There may be a union / non union theme to my problems.
I worked at a non union company, Harper Detroit Diesel.
I had no idea about “radio waves as weapons” until 2005,

……8 years after I initially was attacked

I started my research project in January 2004 on the internet with the keywords “constructive dismissal”
in relation to my own problems at Harper Detroit Diesel.
I am not sure about ……”microwave mind control”,
seems to be a lot of articles on the internet about this topic.
It does look like more and more people world wide are looking at
……”radio waves as weapons”.
I think maybe thats because there is now so much “radio equipment”around the world with the advancements in “communications.”
The problems with all these types of systems is the technology falls into the wrong hands.
Some real horror stories from people worldwide about this topic on the internet.
What an eye opener !

Posted by:

Gerry Duffett

3358-A McCowan Rd
Basement
Scarborough Ontario
Canada M1V 5P5

duffett52@yahoo.com,
gerryduffett@fastmail.ca,

1. The Hobby of Amateur Radio is more vibrant than ever. The presence of guys in “orange hunting vests” is a reflection of the ARES, Skywarn, VHF hams who do a lot of public service. God bless them for taking their time doing weather spotting, emergency communications and parades while I sit at home chasing DX and doing HF contesting. The presence of a Chinese manufacturing company now to add competition to the US, Japanese and European manufacturers is a great thing for hams and the hobby. Competition tends to lower prices and improve quality. It will this time as well. The Wouxon products look nice – frankly more impressive than some Japanese manufactured 2 meter rigs.

2. Quality costs money vs has the hobby gone nuts? I was struck by the comments on the costs of top of the line amateur rigs. Has the writer not taken time to calcuate what a new Collins S line sold in the 1960′s would cost today? My actuaries suggest that the Icom and Yaesu premier rigs come in under the cost of the old S-Line and with a lot more features and functionality. The price of the German HF rig at 18,000 and the cost of the Icom 7800 at 12,000 and the Japanese FT DX 9000 MP at 10,000 are an indicator that more hams are willing to invest in their hobby just like a lot of my neighbors spend on bass boats or snow machines. I prefer my rig frankly. Sure, it is expensive but worth every cent one pays. The quality and enjoyment of my top of the line rig far exceeds what I found in my first rig – the HW 101.

3. The ARRL – We may have to disagree on the usefulness of the League. I am a proud member and supporter. The League does offer a lot of services – as our hobby is a lot more sophisticated today than it was 50 years ago when the RF Carmudgeon was licensed. I remain amazed at the degree of service and excellence the ARRL can deliver for the meager dues we pay. THANK YOU ARRL!

4. The Flea Market offering is a barometer of the health of the Hobby – NONSENSE. The hobby has moved beyond building and home brewing gentlemen. I commend those like my friend W0AIH who still want to use the treasurers he finds in the Flea Market. I do not. I prefer the modern, state of the art stuff built by MicroHam, Array Solutions, Icom, Acom, Alpha and the likes. Most of us now use highly sophisticated, computer integrated peripherals in our shacks with current, DSP equipped HF rigs. The decline of offerings at the Flea market – which I find a bit hard to believe – is simply a factor of what hams now use, and the ability of us to find great used stuff from QTH.com and QRZ.com and other sources.

5. The new transceivers are too fancy for me – I think this is what the Carmudgeon meant by his comments of “…new top-of-the-line Japanese HF contest transceiver, which is garish in appearance and just too reminiscent of a video game!..” Are we to infer from such comments that the hobby cannot evolve and equipment cannot change to fit modern tastes? I doubt most hams find any of the new equipment garish but if you prefer the simplistic plain look, Ten Tec offers a fantastic rig in that category while Icom, Yaesu, Elecraft offer sophisticated rigs with band scopes, DSP filtering and an operating experience that is a lot more enjoyable than any video game I ever operated. And, rumor suggests Kenwood will soon offer one of this “goolish” rigs as well!

6. Where was the FCC? I read his criticism that heck even the FCC was not there. Not true my friend. The Chairman of the FCC attended unannounced, well at least until the ARRL saw him and then began offering a guided tour. I was hoping he was there to get his no code tech license so we might ultimately entice him to join the HF ranks of those of us who like the new technology.

7. Those da.. no code hams – I have heard criticism of the no code licensing from plenty of old timers and I have to agree on one point – the new hams – they run circles around me in contesting and score more points. It was a lot more fun when they did not compete with me and my old ways of doing things. But, hey, three of my daughters got their no code licenses a few years ago and they are A-1 operators in my opinion. I hope the “RF Carmudgeon” will think a little more open mindedly about new blood in the hobby. After all, ham radio is not owned by any one group or one opinion and certainly not by “the customs of the past”.

8. Hara arena is a dump – I have to agree especially after the sewage break on Saturday. But, hey, we get it for a bargain and I can put up with its old appearance to allow more hams to attend who might not afford a convention at a premiere facility like McCormick place.

9. It is not just at Dayton any more – I think the RF Carmudgeon was not aware of the best kept secret in Dayton. There are plenty of activities downtown at the Crown and Marriott hotels : Contest University (the premiere event of the week in my book), The DX dinner (an amazing banquet with more prizes than most dealers keep in stock) and a Contest Banquet on Saturday night with a great speaker year after year.

Come on back to Dayton next year and try looking at it from a different perspective. You might conclude as I have that Ham Radio is alive and well and its future is bright.

Scott, K0MD

This is a very good summary of what I found the last time I was at Hamvention, which was 7 or 8 years ago. I attended religiously up to that point, starting in 1982 or so, only missing a couple of years.

However, the decline of the event and the hobby in general was so noticable the last time I was there that I haven’t been back since. The thing that struck me the most (and as you noted in your article) was the fleamarket area. That particular year, I would estimate it was 50 percent empty during “primetime” on both Friday and Saturday, with the other 50 percent taken up with parked vehicles (25%) and people selling (25%). The heart of what Hamvention used to be all about, the fleamarket has become a high-priced parking lot. There was a time in the not so distant past that the fleamarket was SOLD OUT well in advance and people were on a waiting list at the gate for any cancellations or no shows.

The Hamvention was known literally around the world for the “world famous fleamarket” but not any more. I’ve set up in the fleamarket and sold on many occasions (and had a blast doing so), so I know how to “talk the talk and walk the walk” so to speak.

You are spot on regarding your observations of people giving a generally bad and to be honest embarassing view of the hobby. This is perhaps the main reason I don’t attend hamfests anymore – I am embarassed to be seen and/or equated with guys wearing hard hats with fully functional miniature towers with rotatable beams and flashing red lights on them. And yes, The Scooter Store seems to have found a niche market. In the old days, some people referred to a few Hamvention attendees as “fat stinky hams”, and for at least some of them you could add the description “lazy”.

I really believe the decline in the Hamvention attendance is attributed not to the decline in the Hamvention organization, but a general decline in the hobby, coupled with the poor economy, internet/computers/cellphones, etc. Dudes with towers on hard hats on their heads riding around on scooters (when they don’t seem to need them) and with severe body odor are also part of the problem. Should I even mention the guy running around with the Dr. Seuss hat on? Ridiculous.

I’m sure there will be many responses on here to your comments, and especially mine, but this is the way I see it, and apparently many others do as well, based on the continuing decline in attendance and overall quality of the event.

Chuck Adams N5UN (Fort Worth, Texas)