The ARES Takeover Attempt, and Why...
Charles Brabham
Reference: http://www.arrl.org/announce/board-0407/
The ARRL set up a committee to look into digital communications for ARES
last year.
Talking to one of the committee members early on, not long after this
digital group was assembled, I was told that two or three affluent and
powerful members of the committee had already decided the group's final
conclusion, to utilize the Winlink 2000 system for ARES HF communications.
The six months or so that the committee "studied and discussed" the matter
were a formality, a sham.
I know of three persons who attempted to inject a note of sense into the
issue, but all attempts to suggest that anything other than Winlink2000 be
used were rejected by the committee, often rudely and in one case the
rejection involved name-calling and ridicule of fellow Hams that was
entirely uncalled-for.
A note of sense? - As a digital experimentor, I know that finding space
anywhere on the Ham bands to operate the new wide digital modes like PACTOR
II and PACTOR III without interfering with other Hams is extremely
difficult.
A PACTOR III signal is six or seven times as wide as a Packet signal, for
example, and fifteen times wider than PSK31. - This proposal calls for
dozens and dozens of these stations operating from NWS EOC's around the
country - if the committe were being honest about its intentions.
The committee was not being honest about its intentions though, which may
explain why repeated attempts to talk sense to this committee failed.
Not being honest? - Take a look at the pdf file describing the committee's
plans:
http://winlink.org/Emergency.htm While you are there, do a word-search on
the word "future" in the article. - You will find that as often as not, the
word 'future" is used in the article to describe the HF links in this
system. These "future" links are the ones I mentioned earlier, the ones that
knowlegable hams tried to warn the committee as to the impracticality of. -
The impossibility of getting that many wide-mode digital stations on the air
for any purpose without causing massive interefence of every other
ham-related activity on the air.
The thing is, you see, that the cynical members of this committee knew that
they could ignore warnings about the chaos that multiple wide-mode digital
signals would cause on our bands - because the comittee never intended for
this system to use Ham Radio in the first place.
That's right; This is another one of those "Amateur Telephone" scams, where
Internet junkies put Amateur Radio traffic on the Internet and call it "Ham
Radio" because the data was taken from Hams. They lied about it because they
knew that if they told the truth, thier non-ham ideas would be laughed right
out of the hobby. Winlink2000 is another one of those "ham radio digital
modes" that could not exist or operate without Internet linkages.
Yes, the ARRL actually decided that we as Hams should back up the
Internet - by using the Internet. ( Duh! )
In other words, these people have no clue whatsoever about emergency
communications - but they are going to force their ingorant, anti-ham
policies upon the Amateur Radio community anyway - with the help of the
ARRL. - The result will be that all Hams will look like idiots, not just the
members of this "committee".
What has this got to do with the ARRL's decision to "take over" ARES, it's
logo and all of it's operational issues? - It is so they can cram this
cynical non-radio solution down the throats of Amateur Radio operators who
are really more interested in trying to use Ham Radio.
ARRL: The hobby is "Amateur Radio", not "Amateur Telephone"... Get it?
Take-overs like this are usually motivated by a desire to force something
upon people against their will, and this shameful takeover attempt on ARES
by the ARRL is no exception.
I call it an "attempt" because ARES members across the country are already
up in arms over this ignorant, cynical and destructive crap.
If you know any of the great Hams; The real Hams who pass emergency traffic
every day on HF, please send them a copy of this via E-mail. That way, when
they have been pushed aside to make room for "Amateur Telephone" operators
who do not even use radio, they'll know how it all happened, and why.
It's another attack on the hobby by cynical Internet junkies, aided and
abetted by the ARRL, as they did with Packet Radio. We all know how Packet
Radio ended up after this treatment... Now the same "wisdom" is being
applied to ARES.
Isn't that "special"?
Hey, the ARRL is made up of humans, and is not by any means "all bad"... Why
not give the president of the ARRL, Jim Haynie the benefit of the doubt and
let the gentleman know how you feel about this matter? His E-mail address
is: w5...@arrl.org
Charles Brabham, N5PVL
Director: USPacket
http://www.uspacket.org
n5...@uspacket.org
Administrator: HamBlog.Com
http://www.hamblog.com
ad...@hamblog.com
Director: Texas Southmost Amateur Radio Club, Inc.
http://www.tsarcinc.com
n5...@tsarcinc.com