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Fall 2004 Issue |
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OP ED Ham Radio’s Three Imperatives By James G. Alderman,* KF5WT |
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If ham radio is to survive in the years to come, it’s imperative that we be granted three key protections. In past decades amateur radio has often enjoyed special protections and dispensations under the law. When mobile-scanner bans and cell-phone bans were proposed, we were exempted. When cities stopped us from putting up outdoor antennas, we got protection from PRB-1.
Yet in many ways, our days of “reasonable
accommodation” are becoming a thing of the past, and unless government
quickly intervenes to enact additional protections for ham radio, we will
scarcely exist 20 years from now. Although PRB-1 offers protection from restrictive city and state regulations, hams are anything but free to operate from home. Today private covenants and deed restrictions have become a true modern scourge. Although government entities can’t ban ham antennas, rich developers can, and do. Until federal law intervened a few years ago, they even banned TV and satellite antennas. Something is fundamentally wrong with a system in which a TV antenna is federally protected, but a ham antenna is not. Although some call these restrictive covenants “voluntary,” nothing could be further from the truth. In reality, antennas are only allowed in the older, less desirable, and often declining neighborhoods. Younger families in their prime naturally want newer homes in good neighborhoods with good schools. These “best and brightest” hams are prevented from participating in amateur radio in the traditional sense. Today, buying a new home that doesn’t come with an antenna ban is like trying to buy a new car without an airbag. It simply can’t be done.
If we hams aren’t allowed to practice our
skills on our own property, and on our own time, we will be of no
practical use when we’re needed during an emergency. Somebody who just
reads books about radios and antennas, but has no hands-on experience,
can’t be expected to make them work reliably when disaster strikes. I
liken it to a chef who has read cookbooks, but never turned on a stove. Click here to return to Fall 2004 highlights Click here to subscribe to VHF _________________ © Copyright 2004, CQ Communications, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be reproduced or republished, including posting to a website, in part or in whole, by any means, without the express written permission of the publisher, CQ Communications, Inc. Hyperlinks to this page are permitted.
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