Comment by Manuel_D
2 days ago
RF usage is governed by the FCC. Amateur Radio exists at the mercy of the government, and if there is widespread abuse or careless operation by amateur radio operators then that will likely jeopardize the continued existence of amateur radio.
Amateur Radio predates the FCC- so I almost think it should be the reverse, none of this at the mercy of stuff. Of course government is the real coercive force- in Germany the Nazis revoked ham licenses, racially purified radio clubs and made the amateur radio operators work for them.
Ham radio licenses were revoked worldwide during WWII.
At the end of the day it doesn't matter what you think, it matters what "we" think.
Most people want their phone to work and other assorted things that use wireless signals. If amateur radio people piss off the general public these things will be stripped away rather quickly.
There is absolutely zero freedom of speech on using radio signals.
Important entities doing important things is why the earliest radio regulations were passed in the first place. When it was a brand new technology and unproven, sure, let the nerds build a sparkgap and spam everything with bullshit, who cares?
By the early 1900s, governments, militaries, and large business were using it for serious purposes. You can't have randos transmitting fake orders to a Naval base or fake distress calls to the Coast Guard. Imagine if some asshole in New York was screwing around on the airwaves in his shed and the land based telegraph stations couldn't hear the chatter from the Titanic and the relay stations sending the messages on. It was always going to end up regulated.
The laws governing radio usage also prevent the Nazis from jamming their local NPR stations. A world without restrictions on radio is worse, that's pretty clear to me.
And at the end of the day people still buy baofengs and operate them at 5 watts on FRS and GMRS channels unlicensed all the time, I'm not set of any enforcement.
Isn't the point of FRS that's it's basically unlicensed and GRMS one half step above ?
2 replies →
there are more kinds of governance than command-and-control only. I concede that some legal relationships are command-and-control. Physics itself and jurisdictions.. not sure but I think Nature bats last