In the “readers bag” today was a really very good article on the “use or loose” subject around HR 607. I do have to agree with the points below from the article by K3NG at AmateurRadio.com . Go check it out and read also the opposing comments. Maybe place your comments there.
“There are some “inconvenient truths” about 440 and its potential reallocation:
1. Amateur radio usage of the 440 band is abysmal. (Dead repeaters don’t count as usage.)
2. What usage there is of 440 is inefficient when compared with 3G and 4G technologies that could use the band.
3. Millions could benefit for 440 rather than a few thousand who use it today.
4. Amateur radio’s 440 band is a secondary allocation, not primary.”
I too hate to give up any of the assigned frequencies that we have, but I am also at a realization in this life that “having stuff” does not buy you happiness. Hell it does not even provide for the future. Having the 440 band, even on a secondary basis, that is so little used does not provide the best use of the resource. Consider that the use we are making of most of it is already “vintage” status (50 years old). With the present use and move to upgrade, it will most likely become “antique” (100 years old) and still be analog, ker-chunking, systems.
I have been in Amateur radio long enough to confirm that the technology of the “50’s” (although I would have more related it to the late 60’s and 70’s) is not what we should be protecting. When I was first licensed in the mid 70’s repeaters were few but they were well used. I could get on almost any time of day or night and strike up a conversation with someone or call to get help, directions, etc. Today, it is rare that I call and get an answer. I monitor the local repeaters when I am out and seldom hear anything more than the every present “ker-chunking”. Yes they are still up and working, so say something! Even though I monitor them I carry my new “smart-phone” and it gets more use than my dual bander. Crap, it is way smaller, has millions of more uses and flexibility and costs less (well not including a monthly service charge). Yes when all other lines of communication fail Amateur Radio can get through but just how much real use is there for that limited, occasional need? My excuse for using the smart phone more is that I am needing to talk to people that are not “radio-active”.
I have to consider that if a portion of the 440 band was given up to benefit millions of people, and that benefit was on a daily basis, then maybe that is justification enough and what we need to do? As a “fraternity, or to fill our personal spirit with justification, we like to boast about our public service and the need for these frequencies. We provide communication in times of disaster and need. Does that limited and short term use, in one small band out weigh the consistent daily need of the many? The benefit we have today, for a few thousand actual, occasional users, given back to provide a benefit for millions on a daily basis?
I am re-thinking my opposition to the “give-away” and wondering that maybe we need to wake up and “use it or loose it"! – WD0AJG