From: kurt@cs.tamu.edu (Kurt Freiberger)
Newsgroups: rec.radio.amateur.misc
Subject: Re: Closed repeaters
Date: 5 Jan 1993 17:22:31 GMT
Organization: Computer Science Dept., Texas A&M University
Distribution: world
NNTP-Posting-Host: dsls1.cs.tamu.edu

In article <8319@lib.tmc.edu>, jmaynard@oac.hsc.uth.tmc.edu (Jay Maynard) writes:
|> OK...but let's add some more things to make your analogy even closer: First of
|> all, the highway has hundreds of lanes. Second, the lane Jim's Porsche is in
|> is one of the most heavily traveled lanes on the highway. Third, there are
|> spots on the highway where, if you cross them at exactly 88 miles an hour,
|> you're teleported somewhere you're thinking of, but if your speed is off, you
|> wind up in weird worlds you can never get out of. Fourth, as the highway winds
|> through Texas, there are others on it who Jim shares the lane with peacefully
|> and cooperatively.
|> 
|> Now, what's the problem? A lane like that _needs_ to be blocked off so the
|> unwary aren't trapped.

There is precedent - HOV lanes.

SOAPBOX ON

All this crap may be boiled down to a few salient points.

1. Repeaters perform a SERVICE - that of increasing one's range of 
   communications, all other features notwithstanding.

2. The ever-present overpopulation problem is still with us.
    St. Malthus, protect us!   Run, lemmings, run!

3. The presence of the "haves/have-nots" is quite prevalent.

4. The burning need to "exercise our Gawd-gived rights" is running
    amok, with attendant "damn the torpedoes, full-speed ahead"
    attitudes.

Folks fed up with a situation on a repeater (such as overcrowding)
were told "Hie thee off to the hinterlands of 450 Mhz, where there is
spectrum in abundance".  So they did.  Life became fairly normal.
Now that the 2 meter folks have trashed their environment, the Masses
look to 450 as the next spawning ground.  The 450 types shudder at the
portents of this dark Exodus, hoping that 220 will stave off the flow.
Then UPS et al salt the well of 220, and the Hordes descend.  The
Righteous declare, after all empty channels are filled, "These heathens
have no right to deny our right to transmit freely!", so the Crusade
begins.  The Demons of the Closed Repeaters are cajoled, with honey-sweet
tongues, "You should open your doors so that ye may bask in the path of
Righteousness, and serve your fellow Man".  Rebuffed, they exclaim to the
Radio Pharisees, "Confine these heretics to Ghetto Channels, that the
Spectrum shall be purified!"  The Pharisees refuse, that they may avoid the
wrath of the Litigious, and hold to the Principle of the Just: "First-come,
first-served; the only Fair Way".  The Righteous exclaim, "We shall harass
the Heretics, until they release the Spectrum, for we are Righteous and
shall prevail."

Written with tongue firmly planted in cheek, but if folks will think about
this, it is a basic problem that is replayed ad infinitum in many ways:
Religion (close fit, eh?), Ethnic situations, Poverty, etc.  In many ways,
the situation we have could erupt into the equivalent of the L. A. riots, 
but it should never come to that.  Those that remember the early Repeater
Wars are surely watching with wry humor and disdain.

The process of sharing the spectrum is not one of "right to transmit", but
"what may be done in the present environment".  I can't start my own 
country right in the middle of Texas, even though I might not see any 
human beings for a month in some county.  I don't play my stereo at 
ear-splitting volumes at 2:00AM, in consideration of my neighbors.  Obviously
the atmosphere is not being used at that time!  I wish the Neighbors
from Hell had given me that courtesy!

There are other bands that may be used.  Yes, you might have to spend some
money to do that, but "if you wanna play, you gotta pay".   Try talking with
folks to see if they might consolidate channels, but ASK, don't demand!
Negotiate!  It might cost a few bucks to share the expense, but IYWPYGP.
Buy them a set of crystals for their repeater!  Help them retune duplexors
if they need help!  But RESPECT THEIR WISHES!  It does no good to antagonize
them, and may cause much harm.  Maybe you might overcome the reason they
put up a closed repeater in the first place.

-- 
Kurt Freiberger, wb5bbw	  kurt@cs.tamu.edu   409/847-8607  fax:409/847-8578
Dept. of Computer Science, Texas A&M University      DoD #264: BMW R80/7 pilot
"We preserve our freedom using three boxes: ballot, jury, and cartridge."
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