Comments on: The Tragedy of Haiti… http://blog.rac.ca/?p=468 All about ham radio in Canada - Tous pour la radioamateur au Canada Sun, 12 May 2013 22:59:14 +0000 hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.3.1 By: dave http://blog.rac.ca/?p=468&cpage=1#comment-170 dave Mon, 22 Feb 2010 20:36:00 +0000 http://racblog.wordpress.com/?p=468#comment-170 bill 118 DOES take away MY right to use MY mobile radio ! it works "perfectly" without any attachments of any kind . i need not be fumbling with dead battery bluetooths or any other nonsense device nor do i have the "funds" to purchase any un-necessary devices . bill 118 DOES take away MY right to use MY mobile radio ! it works “perfectly” without any attachments of any kind . i need not be fumbling with dead battery bluetooths or any other nonsense device nor do i have the “funds” to purchase any un-necessary devices .

]]> By: Keith VA3QF http://blog.rac.ca/?p=468&cpage=1#comment-169 Keith VA3QF Mon, 15 Feb 2010 22:08:58 +0000 http://racblog.wordpress.com/?p=468#comment-169 If a catastrophic event such as happened in Haiti were to occur in Ontario then I would think the last thing on a police officer's mind would be issuing tickets to a ham NOT using hands-free on his mobile rig! The public relations disaster that would occur if such a thing happened would not be worth the revenue. Could you imagine the media headline: "Local ham given ticket for using wrong microphone while aiding Red Cross in disaster"??? I am wondering, though, if we are losing sight of the total picture here. Bill 118 does not take away our right to operate mobile; what it is doing is implementing a law that, in the end, makes it potentially safer to operate mobile! In my mind it HAS to be safer to have two hands on the wheel rather than having one clutching a microphone. The only immediate drawback I see is the inability to access certain radio functions by means of buttons on the microphone - for example, memory channels. I believe the "Talksafe" interface box available from the UK has recently been modified to allow a regular mic to be connected in parallel with the Bluetooth headset to accommodate such situations. To that end the three-year exemption for the development of suitable technology is a good compromise. I believe that the overriding aim has to be improving road safety whilst still permitting enjoyment of our hobby. Replacing a hand-held mic with Bluetooth or even a mic on a boom is not such a big deal if it aids in that respect. If a catastrophic event such as happened in Haiti were to occur in Ontario then I would think the last thing on a police officer’s mind would be issuing tickets to a ham NOT using hands-free on his mobile rig! The public relations disaster that would occur if such a thing happened would not be worth the revenue. Could you imagine the media headline: “Local ham given ticket for using wrong microphone while aiding Red Cross in disaster”???
I am wondering, though, if we are losing sight of the total picture here. Bill 118 does not take away our right to operate mobile; what it is doing is implementing a law that, in the end, makes it potentially safer to operate mobile! In my mind it HAS to be safer to have two hands on the wheel rather than having one clutching a microphone. The only immediate drawback I see is the inability to access certain radio functions by means of buttons on the microphone – for example, memory channels. I believe the “Talksafe” interface box available from the UK has recently been modified to allow a regular mic to be connected in parallel with the Bluetooth headset to accommodate such situations. To that end the three-year exemption for the development of suitable technology is a good compromise.
I believe that the overriding aim has to be improving road safety whilst still permitting enjoyment of our hobby. Replacing a hand-held mic with Bluetooth or even a mic on a boom is not such a big deal if it aids in that respect.

]]> By: Wayne Davies va3grp http://blog.rac.ca/?p=468&cpage=1#comment-168 Wayne Davies va3grp Thu, 21 Jan 2010 05:09:03 +0000 http://racblog.wordpress.com/?p=468#comment-168 Inlight of the distaster now seen in Hati, it strenghthens my commitment on retaining the use of our standard (wired in) hand-held mikes in mobile use, specially during times of disaster. Villages beyond the large cities of Hati, can't get communications out to get the help they so greatly need right now, because either all normal communications they once had is down, and not operating, or their village has never had an amateur living with ham equipment within their areas. Mobile 2-way radios will have to do that task, along with temperary base stations setup in each village, till normal communications are established, or restored. I say, where in the world would you find batteries for a Bluetooth device, in all the carnage, and distruction that has taken place down there, just to keep a bluetooth device operating, simply because the government down there saw fit to employ the same "hands free" laws, as the Ontario Government is impossing on us right now in Bill 118. We seem to live in an area that dosn't have the same type of distuctions Hati has had, but this past week, a few fellows were sentenced to prision for making explosive devices, that could have made a huge distaster here in Ontario, specially Toronto. If they had not been caught before they did their deeds, we could have been looking at a huge loss of life, as well as lost communications throughout Ontario, and maybe farther. Phone, internet, police, ambualnce, and fire communictaions could have all been completely shut down, leaving only ham operators to take up the cause in their place. They had the CN Tower on their priority list of distruction, where alot of communications pass through daily. Bluetooth devices would be completely useless in a very short time, due to their limited battery power life. If carnage such as that seen in Hati, happened here in Ontario, just where would we find replacement batteries to operate a Bluetooth device, to save a person's life that's hanging by a thin thread, simply because our batteries have run down, and we can't transmit the need for urgent help. This alone should have us pushing hard for a change in Bill 118, and have amateur radio totally exempted in Ontario, and for that matter straight across Canada, when it comes to using a push to talk hand held mike. Peter is right. We need to keep fighting Queen's Park, and Bill 118, and have it overturned, to allow us to remain using our stardard mikes of today. Keep Bugging your MPP's with emails, till they finally give up and change Bill 118, and allow us full exemption in that Bill. This is not the time for us to sit on our butts, thinking others will do the job for you. If you want exempted from Bill 118, then give all you can, and more, in making it come about. 73 Best of luck ... Wayne Inlight of the distaster now seen in Hati, it strenghthens my commitment on retaining the use of our standard (wired in) hand-held mikes in mobile use, specially during times of disaster. Villages beyond the large cities of Hati, can’t get communications out to get the help they so greatly need right now, because either all normal communications they once had is down, and not operating, or their village has never had an amateur living with ham equipment within their areas. Mobile 2-way radios will have to do that task, along with temperary base stations setup in each village, till normal communications are established, or restored. I say, where in the world would you find batteries for a Bluetooth device, in all the carnage, and distruction that has taken place down there, just to keep a bluetooth device operating, simply because the government down there saw fit to employ the same “hands free” laws, as the Ontario Government is impossing on us right now in Bill 118. We seem to live in an area that dosn’t have the same type of distuctions Hati has had, but this past week, a few fellows were sentenced to prision for making explosive devices, that could have made a huge distaster here in Ontario, specially Toronto. If they had not been caught before they did their deeds, we could have been looking at a huge loss of life, as well as lost communications throughout Ontario, and maybe farther. Phone, internet, police, ambualnce, and fire communictaions could have all been completely shut down, leaving only ham operators to take up the cause in their place. They had the CN Tower on their priority list of distruction, where alot of communications pass through daily. Bluetooth devices would be completely useless in a very short time, due to their limited battery power life. If carnage such as that seen in Hati, happened here in Ontario, just where would we find replacement batteries to operate a Bluetooth device, to save a person’s life that’s hanging by a thin thread, simply because our batteries have run down, and we can’t transmit the need for urgent help. This alone should have us pushing hard for a change in Bill 118, and have amateur radio totally exempted in Ontario, and for that matter straight across Canada, when it comes to using a push to talk hand held mike. Peter is right. We need to keep fighting Queen’s Park, and Bill 118, and have it overturned, to allow us to remain using our stardard mikes of today. Keep Bugging your MPP’s with emails, till they finally give up and change Bill 118, and allow us full exemption in that Bill. This is not the time for us to sit on our butts, thinking others will do the job for you. If you want exempted from Bill 118, then give all you can, and more, in making it come about. 73 Best of luck … Wayne

]]> By: Joseph Verdirame http://blog.rac.ca/?p=468&cpage=1#comment-167 Joseph Verdirame Tue, 19 Jan 2010 16:26:00 +0000 http://racblog.wordpress.com/?p=468#comment-167 Hi Peter, You are on the right track. I believe that RAC should approach the new Minister of Transportation on behalf of Ontario's Amateur Radio Operators and ask that the 3-year exemption be re-visited, in light of our role in emergency communications. Actually, the text of your post today could form the basis for a comprehensive letter to get the ball rolling. Well done. Joe, VE3LNU Hi Peter,

You are on the right track. I believe that RAC should approach the new Minister of Transportation on behalf of Ontario’s Amateur Radio Operators and ask that the 3-year exemption be re-visited, in light of our role in emergency communications.

Actually, the text of your post today could form the basis for a comprehensive letter to get the ball rolling. Well done.

Joe, VE3LNU

]]>