6 JAN, 2003 - 2005 CDT I received this email letter from a Central Division ARRL member Alvin Riesbeck, W9AFR. It's a bit rambling, but he covers several issues. I thought at least some of you may find his views to be of interest. I doubt if his suggestion about the biological dangers of RF being transmitted on power lines has any validity, unless much, much higher power levels are used. But I find it interesting that he brought it up. 73 - Dick, W9GIG ========================================================================= Date: Sat, 5 Jul 2003 10:21:08 -0700 (PDT) From: Alvin Riesbeck <alvinr@Z6.com> To: w9gig@arrl.org Subject: My Opinion Reply-To: alvinr@Z6.com July 5, 2003 Mr. George Isely Central Division ARRL Director Mr. Isely I am sending you this e-mail because I have read and have been told the leadership of the ARRL would like to know ARRL member’s opinions. I was hoping to make this short but I am afraid it will not be short. I have read your Bio and you are an interesting man. I am not quite so interesting but I think you need to know a little about me. I am 62 years of age and have been license since 2000. I use to lessen to amateur Radio in the 60's and even took a class in Morse code in that time period but I was never license. I was re-introduced to amateur radio again in 1999. I am currently an extra, but I do not use Morse code because I have a hard time hearing the code (I loss some hearing). I did pass the CW test after a year of beating my head against the wall. CW I am a retired computer programmer (federal government). Anytime I would go to a planning meeting that involved change the first thing one would hear is the magic phrases "what is wrong with the way we did it in the past". Amateur Radio is not the only organization going through the argument of old Vs new. My model train club also has the steam vs diesel crowd and they also fight like cats and dogs. Now that WRC-03 has spoken about the Morse code testing requirement, I believe the FCC will follow by removing the CW testing requirement. The ARRL should not moan about CW testing going away or try to force the FCC to keep it. The ARRL should be leaders and set new policy to try and make all HAMs respect the other Hams opinion. It is a forgone conclusion that the use of Morse code will not go away and it will be used for many years to come. The real question to answer is will all old and new hams both use the code in the future or will the new Hams just say YUK and never use it. This brings me back to the question of do hams stay in the 19th century or do they advance to the 21st century. Think about this, CW started out as spark, advance to a straight key and finally to the bugs of today. In all of these cases the signal transmitted was the same but the way the signal was initiate by the radio operator was different. In fact it is not the manual key but the signal itself that get through when others fail. There-fore it is the signal that is important not how we initiate the signal. I am suggesting that those who want to use manual CW do so and that a new computer driven CW system be generated. This new system would be a computer program such as digipan (example PSK31). It would generate CW instead of the PSK31 signal, it would look like digipan (or any similar program) and connect into the radio CW input port. In other words a computer program that would be used for CW. It should be able to transmit into any current radio including QRP. That would make the code in vogue again for Hams who have a hard time using CW for whatever reason they may have. This would also help older hams that like me use psk31 because they have a hard time hearing the CW code. This would result in all Hams being capable of transmitting in CW and may result in an increase use of CW. PSK31 I use psk31 a lot. In fact I have 30 confirmed states using psk31. Today there are more ham using this mode and the spectrum is getting crowded. I am not sure who is in charge of the band plan, but I would suggest adding a new frequency for psk31 to be used for DX only (on 20 meter at least) in addition to the current one at 14.070. I think the current frequency should remain because of crystal control radios such as "Small Wonder Labs" QRP psk31. This also would be a step forward for psk31 users. BPL issue I have read your newsletter on the subject of BPL. I think your newsletter was much better than my e-mail to the FCC but I brought up an issue you and the ARRL maybe did not think about. I brought up the issue of "Thermal effects of RF Energy". It is about RF energy causing damage to body tissues. This question in on the Tech license exams. (Now You're Talking! Chapter 10). The gist of my e-mail was the FCC was going to allow the electric companies bring into every house in the USA an RF signal that may or may not damage body tissue. The RF would be present in the home whether the occupant used the DPL system or not. This issue is well document by the FCC. Like the issue of magnetic fields generated on electric line. It does not matter if the issue is true or not, once the class action lawyer (after they get done with the food industry) decide this is their next little moneymaker all hell for the FCC will brake loose. Seriously: I am telling you this so if you think this issue is valid you can forward this issue on to the ARRL staff. Maybe the ARRL staff can present this issue better than me. But I did make an effort. Conclusion. It has been stated that amateur radio must interest younger Hams if it is to continue. In the years 1930 through 1950 radio was the cutting edge of technology, then came television and finely in 1980 the personal computer, which really changed the landscape forever. The ARRL should realize that amateur radio could only survive by combining computers and radios into one package. Today most kids are experts using the computer and even more so than their parents. No one can tell what will be in 20 years. I believe the future for amateur radio will be computer-generated radios both receiving broadcast signals and transmitting with a computer driving a little black box that is generating the on air signal. This will be the norm. We can only adapt to the new technology or go the way of the horse and buggy. This is the future whether I and/or the ARRL like it or not. Thank You W9AFR Alvin Riesbeck 7713 Crabtree Court Woodridge Illinois, 60517-2915 alvinr@z6.com