Subj : Re: Pet peves
To   : Daryl Stout
From : Rug Rat
Date : Tue Jan 06 2026 11:38 pm

On Tue  6-Jan-2026  5:26p, Daryl Stout@1:19/33.0 said to Rug Rat:
DS>  RR> What is your current list of Amateur Radio pet peeves?

Thank you for your detailed and thought provoking response.

DS> 1) Stations not using ITU phonetics at checkin on nets.

Doesn't necessarily bother me, unless someone is waaaay out in left field.  I 
know my ITU phonetics backwards and forwards, and several other local public 
safety phonetics..

Funny basic training story about that.   In the early days of training, I was 
so stressed with everything being thrown at me, I was relieved I was asked a 
question I could actually answer!  "What is the phonetic alphabet from A - some 
middle stopping point.)...  However for some inexplicable reason my brain 
settled on what the California Highway Patrol uses.. "Adam.  Baker. Charles.."  
"WHAT THE HELL KIND OF GIRL SCOUT PHONETICS IS THAT?!!!!...   GET DOWN!!!!"

MOTHER  !(*#! You had this!!!

DS> 2) Stations not following directions of net control.

Yeah, that can get a little awkward, especially when someone breaks in and 
directs something at YOU...   "Ummm.  I will pass that back for NET CONTROL TO 
ANSWER..."

DS> 3) Stations claiming their club is the best.

But.... My club IS the best!, because I'm in it! (My BBS is the best too!)...

DS> 4) Stations saying "you're not a ham if you don't do CW".

"Funny..  Sounds like you are using phone to me."  I stop by all the code key 
displays at conventions and sit there tapping out "CW SUCKS...."

DS> 5) Stations who feel that the Part 97 Rules don't apply to them.

Yeah, people on the local repeater talking about using their modified radios 
out of band comes to mind, especially to new hams.  Them when you chime in and 
explain that while you can modify a type accepted radio to transmit on amateur 
frequencies, doing the reverse is illegal because our radios are not type 
accepted, and you are told to pound sand.

DS> 6) Stations saying "internet radio is not ham radio". Years ago, an
DS> FCC official noted "We are communicators FIRST, and hams SECOND".
DS> With more and more hams having to go into HOA's, CC&R's, assisted
DS> living or medical facilities...or they have things like a heart
DS> condition..."internet radio" still allows them to be a part in a 
DS> life long hobby.

 I was one of the early adopters of IRLP and ECHOLINK when they first came out, 
at the time I was dating a girl in Thailand I met on Yahoo Chat (Aged myself 
with both comments..).  I began using the local repater that had an EchoLink 
node to meet the local hams in Thailand.  Ended up having dinner with a group 
of the RAST (Radio Amateur Society of Thailand) on a couple of visits.  A group 
of angry hams in Thailand pushed the governing body to suspend the use of VOIP 
on 2 meters there. (2 meters 144 - 146) being the only freq. above 30Mhz they 
could use..).   I was very vocal at one of the dinners that they HAD to get 
that reversed! (Precocious American...)..   Shortly after they were successful 
the Boxing Day Tsunami struck Southern Thailand.   Guess what was used as the 
primary means of passing traffic from Phuket and the outer islands to pass 
traffic back to Bangkok?  Too many people believe the ONLY way to pass 
emergency traffic is the bands and modes they use, or that HAM radio is only 
effective way to pass traffic in an emergency.  While the agencies involved 
correctly see it as use the most convient first (IE.. If cell phones work, by 
all means use them..).

DS>   I personally don't care if they are a Novice, Technician, General,
DS> Advanced, or Amateur Extra Class licensee...whether or not they took
DS> and passed a Morse Code exam...whether they got licensed in the last
DS> week, or before World War II...or how much they do in the hobby (on
DS> the air and otherwise). If they are licensed, that's all that matters 
DS> to me.

Novice.....  Advanced?   What are those?  

Again.. Thanks for the great response, and the opportunity to throw more than 
my 2 cents in.

Rug Rat (Brent Hendricks)
Blog and Forums  - www.catracing.org
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 * Origin: The Rat's Den BBS (1:135/250)

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