March - April 2024
March - April 2024
 WIA Member Digital Edition Download
Editorial
Class, dismissed
So, each of us with an amateur radio operators certificate of proficiency (AOCP – be it full, foundation, limited, novice, standard, or whatever) attained in the decades leading to the 19th of February this year, were once individuals, licensed and awarded a call sign to operate ‘Apparatus’ (sooo last century!). Now we’re a herd, a flock, a collective, a class. A class in which, apparently, some are classier than others, according to the social media clickerati.
It has been a long and winding road (to paraphrase Paul McCartney) from Apparatus licensing to class licensing for radio amateurs. In a nutshell, the journey was aimed at reducing the administrative ‘burden’ of individual licensing while offering a no-fee licence for all. At its heart, administrative efficiency was a driving force – not about our hard working regulator, the ACMA, doing more with less, but more about it doing even less with much less.
Towards the end of the work to transition from individual apparatus licences to its “one licence for all” scheme, the ACMA promised to take the step of writing to each amateur radio operator, advising – in writing – that the individual is authorized to access the Amateur class licence. Presumably, “in writing” means some sort of document.
As of 20 February, I had not received my letter. Does this mean I’m a pirate? Is this a ‘cancel culture’ conspiracy? Will I receive no responses to my CQ calls on the bands? Quelle horreur!
To explain for a moment, cancel culture refers to a collective boycott by a group of people against someone perceived to have done something that offends or to have committed a wrongdoing.
Cancel culture is a social media phenomenon. Social media has enabled the amplification of antisocial practices of the past – that of shunning, dismissing, or boycotting a person because of a perceived slight or offence. Social media enables a wide group of people to jump into the affray on a scale previously unimagined. Too often, it is seen that the ‘offence’ or ‘wrongdoing’ driving the phenomenon is manufactured, made up, not based in fact.
I don’t for a moment believe that the ACMA has cancelled me. The conspiracy element that I introduced above points satirically to others beyond the reach of the ACMA, an amorphous collective acting under group-think to cancel my legitimate amateur radio operator status.
I confidently expect that I will receive my letter, document, parchment, whatever from the ACMA. I have done in the past, through all its antecedents.
Perhaps the original one was sent to an old address. Perhaps it was delivered to a wrong address. Maybe it arrived and the dog ate it. Why could it not be published on the ACMA website and thus be publicly available?
Alright, that last one is something of a wish. Under the past licensing scheme, such was the case. Your licence was available through the Register of Radiocommunications Licences (RRL).
Alas now, for reasons that have not been explained sufficiently clearly, documentation that legitimates the holding of an amateur radio operators’ qualification / call sign cannot be sought on a publicly available ACMA database. When so much else about our private lives is widely shared around digitally, often without our conscious concurrence, how come privacy limitations applying there are invalid or irrelevant here?
In this circumstance, we are all in one class. The hidden class.
Table Of Contents
General
 Tony Hancock, lessons from “The Radio Ham” - Richard Murnane VK2SKY
The long & winding road to the 2023 WRC Part 2 - Dale Hughes VK1DSH & Peter Pokorny VK2EMR
Historic gem to visit in Victoria - Jules Perrin VK3JFP
Listening In - Roger Harrison VK2ZRH
Amateur radio isn’t dying – it’s persevering! - Marc Hillman VK3OHM
Technical
Hands-free rig operation by gesture and voice using low-cost modules - Lou Destefano VK3AQZ
A GPS-controlled frequency reference to build for shack or field - Paul McMahon VK3DIP
Multi-band, co-sited vertical antennas for the 17m and 12m bands - Doc Wescombe-Down VK5BUG
Join the action on the 2mm bands! - Andrew Anderson VK3CV, WQ1S
Homebrew three-band 100 W HF transceiver - Lou Destafano VK3AQZ
Page Last Updated: Saturday, 13 Apr 2024 at 10:06 hours by Webmaster
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