Re: [Discuss-gnuradio] Transmit legit, become a ham

[Kelly Martin]

John Gilmore wrote:
> Unless you need to do frequency coordination, which you usually do.
> Then you have to deal with the oldest, gnarliest hams around, the ones
> who 50 years ago got access to mountaintop towers and have been squatting
> on them ever since, like trolls under bridges.
>   
Frequency coordination is voluntary in the amateur radio service.  
Unless you plan to operate in a band that is already packed with 
repeaters, you can, in most places, ignore frequency coordination; 
typically the local coordination body (if it functions at all, which is 
by no means a guarantee) has designated some range of frequencies as 
"open use" and you can just use those frequencies.  And very few areas 
have meaningful coordination for the bands above 900 MHz; even if there 
is coordination in place for 33cm and up, odds are nobody will notice if 
you ignore it.

Amateur radio frequency coordinators tend to be tinplated dictators with 
delusion of godhood.  They also do not have the blessing of the FCC that 
they like to pretend they do, and furthermore their legal authority is 
entirely limited to repeaters (which they'd know if they had actually 
read the regulations that apply to them, which is unlikely).

Things have changed since the 70s; a lot of the twerps you dealt with 
have died off by now.

Kelly