Gary, There's good PR and then there's bad PR... - Bill N3LLR AR>FYI AR>73, Gary AR>Board Liaison, PR Committee AR>------ Forwarded Message AR>From: Gary Pearce KN4AQ <kn4aq@ipass.net> AR>Reply-To: pr@listserv.arrl.org AR>Date: Sat, 04 May 2002 18:43:45 -0400 AR>To: pr@arrl.org AR>Subject: [PR:1611] More on Houston Chronicle article AR>Resent-From: pr@listserv.arrl.org AR>Resent-Date: Sat, 04 May 2002 22:43:51 +0000 AR>The Houston Chronicle article on lack of tower access for Amateur Radio AR>repeaters ("Static all around for local ham radio operators", May 1, 2002 - AR>http://www.chron.com/cs/CDA/printstory.hts/editorial/outlook/1393266) turns AR>out to be a response to a letter to the paper from Peter Wang AR>KF5ND. Wang's letter, published on April 27 and titled "SOS for radio AR>operators," complained about dwindling Amateur participation in the Houston AR>MS-150.* AR>Wang wrote, "...even as the popular ride has grown larger, volunteer AR>amateur radio operation participation has plummeted. This year we were AR>critically short of volunteer operators - all of the ambulances were not AR>equipped with onboard radios and had to rely on spotty cell phone coverage." AR>And he offered this unique suggestion to the people of Houston: "the next AR>time you see a vehicle with 'Texas radio operator' license plates, ask the AR>driver, 'Are you putting your radio and license to good use?'" AR>There was one other response to Wang's letter, from Bruce Paige KK5DO. In AR>his letter, published April 30, Paige was miffed that ham radio operators AR>were criticized. He said that hams help out in many areas in the AR>community, and then confuses the issue by missing the fact that Wang is a AR>licensed ham, accusing Wang of not knowing much about ham radio and AR>inviting him to become licensed. AR>So, a few Houston hams have decided to air some dirty laundry in the public AR>media. A PIO bad dream, if not a nightmare. AR>Houston... we have a problem. AR>73, AR>Gary Pearce KN4AQ AR>North Carolina PIC AR>* The MS-150 is a 150 mile, two-day bike tour, a fundraiser sponsored by AR>the National Multiple Sclrosis Society. There are MS-150's in many cities, AR>and most rely on Amateur Radio for communication. The Houston MS-150 is AR>huge, with 10,000 riders participating (our ride in the eastern NC area AR>draws less than 1000, and we have about 45 hams providing communications AR>-http://www.rars.org/gallery/1999/ms-150/index.html ). AR>------ End of Forwarded Message