Every group, be it a group of family, friends, a group of professionals, a group of Hobbyists, whatever.... in fact, group you'd care to name, has it's own Culture. (mini-culture, microculture, whatever you'd like to call it.) Each group has their own way of doing things, their own values, their own way of doing things, their own way of speaking, their own value structure, their own stories, their own metaphors, and so on.
Add to this, there are subsets of each grouping..... that have their own mini-culture within a mini-culture.
Ham radio is no different in this regard than any other such grouping of people.
The purpose of bringing all this up is an observation that a goodly amount of friction within Ham radio circles these days, is caused by a perceived slight by one sub-grouping within Ham radio to another.
Consider a recent conversation on QRZ, wherein I posted the following Video:
"I am sorry, Net Control was distracted."
"QSL"
This is why they won't even let us borrow the keys to the clown-car anymore.
And...
No real net control and they all run over a guy asking for help. I am sure if you tell them they will get all wrapped up in being offended.
One of these two goes on from there:
My heartburn focuses on overview of the style, substance, and discipline (lack-of) by all stations concerned.
Net Control sets the tone. The situation for which this communications circuit was activated is a tornado--potentially a catastrophic situation with safety-of-life implications. Yes, we're Amateurs, not professionals--I get that. But the comment "Sorry, NCS was distracted" is superfluous and has no value to anyone. A skilled communicator transmits "SAY AGAIN"--that's all. No one knows or cares why a message was lost.
Likewise, sorry boys and girls, "QSL" on Amateur radio is no more appropriate than "10-4"--which I'll bet you all a small Dunkin' Donuts coffee 85% of you folks would go beserk over when you hear it. But--sorry--QSL to me sounds like 10-4 to you. Totally unprofessional and out-of-place. ROGER is the procedural word.
There were indeed all kinds of Amateur nets of every purpose, only several decades ago, where squared-away radio communications procedure was practiced, utilized, learned and advanced; everyone involved took justifiable pride in their proficiency & efficiency.
Emergency Management entities welcomed hams' help because many of us had listening skills and communications chops. Perception has now become reality. No one wants us anymore--for cause. This emergency situation voice network sounds like an ordinary Tuesday Breakfast Club at the Rome Point Cafe, only on VHF radio instead of the corner table for 6.
In any structured, disciplined critical endeavor--Emergency Medicine, Maritime, Aviation, Firefighting, Safety of Life radio communications-- the philosophy is "We train like we operate and we operate like we train." When things get stressful and overwhelming, as in a real-life bad situation, humans 'default to primacy'--under stress we get knocked-down to what's baseline and normal behavior. That's why a good communicator works
towards being effective every time, sounding like he or she should, every time. You can't just turn it on when it's mostly been off.
I wonder if this guy understand just how petty he sounds. As I told him:
If he was in fact at the EOC it was probably intended to keep the government authorities more informed than they would have been from routine police and fire patrols. At the least, they apparently accomplished that.
The assessment on the idea of net control being distracted seems to me a trifle unfair. If he's at the EOC he has doubtless got information coming in from every direction, not just the radio that we're listening to.
I've been in police dispatchers quarters when major emergencies were happening. For example, when hurricane Agnes came through back in, what, 72? Getting data from multiple sources simultaneously is more than a difficult job.
I didn't bother to respond to the rest, mostly because I doubt he'd have understood my point if I did.
Where is this attitude coming from? He's defending his own mini-culture. What we're seeing here is a modification of the "Not Invented Here" syndrome we so often see. It's the same issue as some operators as regards Digital Modes.... FT8 for example. I regard these complaints, these attitudes with annoyance mixed with some degree of amusement, in much the same way as I regard Socrates bemoaning the end of civilization:
"The children now love luxury; they have bad manners, contempt for authority; they show disrespect for elders and love chatter in place of exercise. Children are now tyrants, not the servants of their households. They no longer rise when elders enter the room. They contradict their parents, chatter before company, gobble up dainties at the table, cross their legs, and tyrannize their teachers."
First, the obvious comment is that Socrates' complaints to the side, Western civilization didn't end, it was EVOLVING, and was so even then.
Second, let's now tie this in with my opening comments on this post: The complaint about quality of operators is not a technical thing. It is a social thing, a cultural thing. The complaint is not that traffic is not being handled, that messages and info aren't going out, and being understood and passed on to the appropriate authorities. It's that the traffic didn't sound the way he wanted it.
As I said, petty. It's the same self-righteous indignation directed at those running FT8
and getting their DXCC in six months instead of 40 years, It's the same self-righteous indignation directed at"No Code Hams", ARES members, REACT members, Emcomm enthusiasts, and essentially anyone that doesn't fit their mold.
Sing it with me, Children...."It's Not Ham Radio,
Except it is, regardless of his liking it or not.
I'm of the firm belief that the attitudes we see here are harming Ham radio, not helping it.
I close with the thought that as Paul Simon once wrote: " Orangutans are skeptical of changes in their cages". I hasten to add that the average age of ARRL members is 69.5. Get the picture?
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