The Mentality of Some

It is unfortunate there are some involved in amateur radio who feel the way the individual quoted below does. There always seems to be a small percentage who want to ruin the fun and enjoyment for everyone else. On forums, these sort of individuals are known as “trolls.”

• Real radios GLOW
• Life is to short for QRP
• Real hams took their test in front of a FCC official (and drove hundreds of miles to the office, walked twenty miles to school in the snow,etc).
• If you don’t know code, and use it, you are not a ham.
• eQSL is not REAL paper so it should never count!

From a thread discussing eQSL (electronic QSL cards), this “ham” has the sense to post garbage, along with an opinion on eQSL cards, which is fine. But I don’t consider myself any less of a ham radio operator because I did NOT take my extra in front of an FCC official or that I did NOT learn code in order to gain any of my licenses over the year.

This is sort of comments that are far to prevalent today with the “dumbing down” of licenses procedure set forth by the FCC. Yet there is a vocal presence that says the hobby is dying because new blood, the youth of America are not interested in RF, but social network via a PC using the likes of Facebook or My Space.I am proud I am an amateur radio operator regardless of how I obtained my ticket. So what if I did not learn Morse Code? But it seems to chap some asses that this, Element 1 was rescinded from testing procedures. Many of those “grumpy, old men” cannot let go of past procedures or how they were tested and licensed.I wonder when these same hams will sport the attitude of, “Well if you are operating anything but CW or SSB, it’s not really ham radio.” These are probably some of the same individuals who won’t try new digital modes, like PSK31, Olivia and countless others because of what they have done in the past.

The joy of amateur radio comes down to what YOU, the operator enjoys doing. So what if I or any other ham did not learn Morse Code. So what if we did not test in front of the FCC. We ARE all hams.P.S. – If this response was meant in jest, then I apologize. I just get tired of hearing the same BS over and over.