[BC] HAMS

[Mike McCarthy]

Robert, you're mixing bath water with oil and painting a VERY broad 
swath.  I agree with you in premise that some things are better left 
out of the "commercial" club shack, and the various installations 
should be on par with the remaining facility's standards at that 
location.  You are dead on about some people having better protoboard 
skills than others.

Conversely, I could not think of a better incubation setting than a 
technical professional's club shack to tinker with making something 
new or better.  I'm not going to go into the whole schpiel of how 
things discovered in the "commercial" ham shack has paid countless 
dividends because it gave the developer easy access to "real" 
conditions on which to experiment without the rigid limitations of 
the FCC's experimental license process. I think the skills of a 
prototyper are honed in that environment.

Now...back to the club...one has to look at the priorities of the 
club for that type of decision.  If the CLUB wants to simply be a 
group of appliance operators, then your position is on target. Keep 
the shack clean, tidy, and all matters of installation tightly 
controlled. If the club's members wants to experiment and tinker, 
then the club should lay out some minimum QC standards so that the 
rest of the shack doesn't suffer as a result.  Like not leaving the 
experiment spread all about the shack and keeping all the circuits 
neatly housed in some sort of enclosure (Bud boxes, et al) and 
carefully power protected.

There is a balance which can be achieved.  But it belongs to the 
total club to decide that.

Now as for hiring a ham...  The license is but one aspect which needs 
to be considered.  Your points about "rolling your own" V simply 
buying commercial carries some validity.  In today's time managed 
world, managers need to decide where rolling your own runs short of 
simply calling BSW or BGS to buy something or the local rigger, 
electrician, or choose your skill set to install something.

I, however, view rolling your own as a skill which could serve me 
well IF the skills and motivation are channeled correctly.

73 OM...MM

At 05:57 PM 5/9/2008 -0700, rameuser at tmo.blackberry.net wrote

>A few, though, want treat the installs the same as they would at 
>home without regard to the other broadcast systems around. They feel 
>you are not a real ham unless you do everything yourself. The latter 
>is the type of Ham I would avoid hiring.
>
>Don,t get me wrong, experimenting and home brewing is a very 
>enjoyable part of the hobby. It is just you need to keep your dead 
>bug proto board at home and not in the broadcast environment.  Some 
>people get that while others do not.