APPLES AND ORANGES

Apples and oranges are both fruit, but we all know they are not the same. Email, telephone, and amateur radio are all methods of communication, but they are not the same thing.

Over my time as a Radio Op, I have observed something that - IMHO - needs to be considered. I have never quite understood the frequent comparison of amateur radio communication, particularly Radiograms, to telephone and e-mail. To do so, in my mind, is an apple / oranges comparison. This can be demonstrated on several levels.

First of all, amateur radio is regulated. I will never get a Radiogram with an offer to purchase a product that promises to make me into a 25 year old stud! I will never receive a Radiogram that needs my credit card information in order to update my account. The content of email is basically unregulated; Radiogram content has boundaries.

Secondly, there is no test given for those wishing to participate in email or telephone communications. There is no study required. Not so with amateur radio. Furthermore, those that pass the Ham test are given a “call sign” which identifies them to one and all. There is no anonymity in amateur radio. Wouldn’t it be nice if email communicators would have to “identify” themselves? Imagine how email communications and telephone solicitations would change if every user’s home address was published.

Thirdly, and on this account it may necessary for us to disagree agreeably, while there may be some strange Hams out there… there are no strangers. We are all part of a huge club… a fraternity, if you will, that includes active operators, inactive, even SK’s. If you have a “call sign” you are no stranger to me; you are simply a friend I have yet to meet. It is impossible for me to receive a Radiogram from a stranger, third party originations notwithstanding; they are to me a fellow Ham. Likewise, it is impossible for me to send a Radiogram to a stranger…

If I send a Radiogram, to which I am hoping to receive a response from an Operator whom I do not know… How is that any different than me calling, “CQ, CQ. Any station, anywhere… Michigan QSO party, KD8LZB.” It seems as though we acknowledge one form of request for a response as permissible, yet consider the other illegitimate. I, for one, think that the time for “Radiogram Contesting” has come.

Lastly, there is a discipline and a courtesy that generally guides amateur radio communications. Only rarely do things get ugly. And serious offenders may very well have their privileges revoked. Certainly, that cannot be said for other forms of communication.

We all do a disservice to our hobby if we allow these comparisons to continue. It is a disrespect to the hard work and study that is required to be a Ham. It should offend us all to be put in the box of unregulated, undisciplined, fraudulent, and unscrupulous slime that is called e-mail / spam and telephone solicitations.