[ARRL-ODV:7157] FW: [PR:1611] More on Houston Chro
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
What part of the article does anyone find offensive? I thought it was dead on. Two points were brought up, each affecting the end result, volunteerism. First, that antenna restrestrictions were hurting Amateurs. True. The League has an initiative to stop these restrictive covenants or at least curtail their effect on Amateur Radio antennas. So ARRL must agree with the first part. Second, As someone who has been deeply involved in the "public service" scene for over 30 years, I, too, have seen sites go commercial and not support Amateur Radio in any way. I've seen commercial operators demand commercial fees from radio clubs that are then asked to use their repeaters to support public service events. Right now, in New York City, over 30,000 bicycle riders are involved in the 5 borough bike tour. 30 hams are helping. More were needed but the number of volunteers is dwindling. Served agencies in the New York metro area are being made aware that the use of repeaters is contingent on sites being available to individuals and clubs at no cost. The usual "what can we do about it?" is being met with answers like "find someone in the club who can reach out to the site owner and get US some relief or we cannot support your organization". When the rank and file volunteer hears year after year that there is no support from the very served agencies that ask for Amateur Radio support, the volunteer tends to stop volunteering. Offended? Bad publicity? Not in my book. Right on the money. It's time the public was educated to the fact that you cannot continue to put restrictions on the very volunteers you want to come out and help. I think it is naive in the extreme to expect people to volunteer year after year when they know that their hobby is being restricted and the served agencies are doing nothing to help. -73- Steve, W2ML
on 5/5/02 10:27 AM, sysop@bfdin.com at sysop@bfdin.com wrote:
Gary,
There's good PR and then there's bad PR...
- Bill N3LLR
Actually, an old (and somewhat cynical) political tenet is that, "there is no good publicity or bad publicity, only publicity." 73, Gary
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Gary Johnston -
Stephen Mendelsohn -
sysop＠bfdin.com