Just my two cents as a relatively new Baofeng owner:
I'm about to turn 50, so I'm either already in the "crusty old geezer" category or soon to fall into it, yet I have yet to get my Tech license. I've registered at QRZ.com and have handily passed multiple practice tests, yet I still haven't done the deed. Why?
Procrastination is the most likely answer, but the bigger reason is that I sympathize to a certain degree with the banned OP of the recently closed thread. The ham/FCC community is not to my liking, and it has nothing to do with boring weather conversations. The only thing ARRL, Hams, and the FCC have to offer is 100% stick and 0% carrot. There are many alternatives to acquiring a ham license ranging from simply using a cell phone where available and the free to use CB/FRS possiblities. And the best reason most folks can come up with for doing the right thing is "because it's the law" and we'll ruin your life if you don't comply. It is axiomatically assumed that the added benefits of range and power are enough to compel new users to comply. Well, apparently not.
If all that ham licensing has to offer is a reduced threat of legal action, that probably won't cut it in the current regime of relatively lax enforcement as it is. And heaven help those that instinctively will respond calls for radically increased heavy handed enforcement - that was tried sporadically in '76 with the CB bands and failed miserably.
The Chinese have opened the door via low prices for many, many new radio operators. It is up to the radio community to figure out how to embrace them or run the very real risk of becoming extinct or at best irrelevant.
×3, Great post.
About 25 years ago I actually got as far as dabbling in it a bit myself. No doubt it did always feel like there might be someone in the shadows with overzealous intentions wanting to turn in reports simply because he thought I might've forgotten to ID after 10 minutes or didn't like my radio gear or something, it always felt like 'walking on eggshells' (making sure I don't ever cuss or say anything strictly forbidden, etc.). By far the biggest disappointment however was that I was made fun of because I still wanted to talk to all of my friends ("children") on CB. Disgusted with it all I finally threw in the towel and never used nor renewed it again.
To this day (between CB, MURS, and FRS) I've had no problem communicating effectively with friends and those in my wheeling groups. If someone has an issue (rare, it does happen), I'll offer to help
fix whatever it is that might be ailing their radio, rather than call their CB a piece of junk and insist they throw it in the trash and get a ham (license)... (I carry an SWR meter in my rig just for this purpose).
If you don't like the attitudes or the behaviour of the people you're listening to, spin the VFO and listen to someone else.
Problem is, those attitudes and behavior seemed to run the gamut no matter where you spun your VFO. Judging from what I've been seeing here, it seems it hasn't really changed much (the post about having been called almost every name in the book when asking about a Galaxy radio was particularly striking).
You make a good point about Chinese radios but I'm not sure if I understand the rest of your reasoning. There's another argument for becoming a ham operator vs using a non-licensed frequency in the same band. The process of becoming a ham is an educational process. Ham's learn how radio communications work; from the theory of electromagnetic waves, to transceiver and antenna design, to operating procedures. After the process of buying a Beofeng, turning it on, and picking a frequency, one really isn't likely to get any benefit from the radio. Sure, you'll be able to communicate with a buddy who is able to dial in the same frequency. If one was familiar with the unlicensed MURS frequencies, maybe a group could use those frequencies. Perhaps in an emergency you'd be able to find a ham frequency to call a ham radio operator(which is, in fact, legal to do without a license). But the usability of radios increases as your knowledge increases. And that's actually what ham radio is all about. In your case you've studied for your tech license you've already gotten the theory, so I'm not singling you out. So I don't get why you wouldn't want to take the next step and get a license. And don't worry, there's no danger or hams becoming extinct. There's more licensed hams now than there ever have been.
There's nothing to prevent you learning all that stuff on your own... Infact, learning something on your own because you truly have interest in it generally leads to far more intimate knowledge of it than if you're "forced" to learn it to be granted privilege to use another part of the radio spectrum (at that point it just becomes a "hurdle" which if you've managed to clear it, it isn't of interest any longer).
From a social perspective I require HAM radio on all my trips. You dont have 2m? You dont go.
Which is perfectly fine with me. I don't think you & I would get along very well.
