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Bandaid kid,
Excellent post! In that muddle of laws, rules, and regulations is the reason for said rules to start with. Good, sound reasons why they were established from experience and precedent. If it weren't for those rules, it could get so NO one could use a two-way radio. CB radio in its present form will NEVER get squat so far as power and "channels" is concerned. But the CB hobbiests want Amateur radio to become CB and vice versa. Yet, all those things we read here about Mo' Powah, Mo' channels is contained within the Amateur license! CB radio is NOT supposed to be a hobby, and if FCC had stayed on top of it (maybe impossible back in 1974?), it wouldn't be. Those who want the additional advantages of "extra" channels (ham radio doesn't have "channels") need to learn a little more about how their operations can cause interference and learn to prevent it.
The issue of illegal operations is a hot topic within the Amateur service and CB alike. FCC isn't a perfect solution, but if the advocates of "opening" up this and "opening" up that really got their way, they would screaming bloody murder for someone to DO something! :evil: They themselves would be jammed and wouldn't understand what to do. CB radio is a self-destructive avocation when it is unregulated (ham radio is, too if allowed to run amuck!).
So what should be done?
1. Organize CB clubs again.
2. Establish objectives such as helping with "aid" walks and runs. Set up aid stations (water, rest, or 'bandaid' stops)
3. Visit nursing homes and show the residents your equipment.
They are always looking for something to do/see!
4. Establish a rapport with the local emergency (EOC) management. Volunteer to be victims in disaster practice exercises.
5. Appoint a publicity committee to liason with the local news outlets.
6. Shun "cutesy", immature lingo and encourage members to use plain-dress language. Present a professional appearance to the public at large.
7. Find material that shows how to handle formal messages, or develop a local format.
8. Show that your group has a mission and a purpose.
9. As members join, they may come from adjoining towns. As they do, try to establish "Auxiliary" groups that can grow into
self-sustaining clubs.
10. Sponsor "pig pickin's", barbecues, luncheons, or dances to raise funds both for the club and local charities.
It will give you a focus and show the public that you are a serious organization. As this "CB Auxiliary" takes hold, perhaps,
people begin to hear about what you are doing. Clubs begin to form in other cities, etc. Who knows? Then CB becomes a force to be reckoned with, and, thus, can ask for "Mo' this, and Mo' that!
There IS a way that CB could be taken seriously, but it will have to come from within! It is highly unlikely that CB will get more channels above or below the regular 40. It will not get more watts. To the authorities, CB is DEAD--or they WISH it was. One way to "clean up" CB is to have members sign a pledge to abide by nominal, reasonable behaviors and make it worthwhile by providing certain incentives. People are "joiners" and they like to be in 'THE' Group! In any case, CB has to clean up from within. The users themselves have to stop violating existing law and/or trying ways to defeat it. They will have to make it "uncool" to use "extree" channels, not a good thing to "stomp mudducks". Bad practice to clip audio circuits.
Wrong to use a "footwarmer". All these things have given CB a bad name in the public eye and in the eyes of hams and civilian emergency authorities.
The other alternative is the ham license that will give one all the "extree" channels he can use! He still must obey Part 97, but what you get in return is FAR and away better!
73
CWM