"Amateur police thy self"
If you go back to the 'Hollingsworth era", you will see that he did exactly that! Prior to his arrival, amateur radio had become a TOTAL cesspool, and one frequency in particular comes to mind: 14.313 where you could hear the most VILE and filthy talk ever. These people, who did NOT deserve the ticket to begin with, were completely emboldened by the lack of enforcement and felt they could do anything they liked. He certainly clamped down on this and made amateur radio quite civil. There's always going to be exceptions and people who will test the limits of what they can get away with. The majority of hams don't like the vulgarity, infantile behavior, and it is a sure indicator of the intellectual level of a "ham" that feels that every word must be a vulgarity or sexual remark in order to be valid. When I hear someone say, 'I miss the old '14.313 days', I can't help wonder just what sort of level of humanity "longs" for the lower "dregs" of behavior, and, rightly or wrongly, I form an opinion of that person, at least a small measure of doubt until they prove otherwise. Anyone that "longs" for foul language and argument on the air is suspect AFAIAC, and I simply avoid these mental midgets----ham or otherwise.
CBers often go on about "them hammies" and "them hammies will snitch you out".......................well, what YOU may think is "snitching" someone out, for example, is a measure of the self-policing you speak of! Sure, most of us hams WILL report rules violations, behavior violations, and technical violations. They will also report intruders who have no license and no permission to BE on the ham bands. Since a lot of these people happen to be CBers (because of the illegal '10 Meter' radios mostly), there's more attention paid to the issue, and the hams are more likely to "snitch out" or SEEK out someone who is filching the bands. But it is also
what
keeps ham radio from becoming a cesspool like another band I know of:laugh:! You can't have it both ways; you've either got to have enforcement, RULES to go by and order, OR...........................you'll get what so many people in 11 Meters and even
some hams WANT: Mayhem, disorder, and a radio system that becomes unusable! And, Yes, Hollingworth IS a ham. He quickly became a THORN in the side of both outlaw-type hams AND CBers who intruded into the ham bands. I doubt he played any favorites; he was pretty FAIR, but STERN. He meant what he said!
FCC is NOT, never has been, will never WILL be kitty cat "purrrrr-fect", all fuzzy and warm. They'll never be able to please everybody. Yet a person, particularly someone who knows a little about radio, either from college training, or just plain experience, can realize that the rules the Feds have actually ain't all that bad. Still, one group wants things THIS way, another wants it THAT way. In the case of CB radio, we often forget that the USA is NOT the only country that uses 27 MHZ, and our often WILD and unbridled antics with amplifiers and "extra" channels cause angst for other nations/users as well. That's why FCC is
supposed to keep somewhat of a "lid" on radio. For the last 20 years or so, they haven't done a really good job because of it's becoming populated with
politicians rather than
TECHNICIANS over those 20-25 years. It is that very politicizing of FCC that has led to the lack of enforcement and technical expertise that exists now, IMHO. If anything they need to enforce MORE, not LESS! And I hope the new spate of additional Field Engineers and Managers at the top level will accomplish that goal: it is LONG overdue! And that enforcement also needs to include the outlaw clowns on 75 Meters, as well! Fair's fair, ain't it? :angry:
CWM
