Tuesday, March 31, 2020
Recently I was reading the comments after a notice about the FCC streamlining the process for obtaining a ham radio license. Several people were enthusiastically relating that they had just gotten their license and others were looking forward to getting one. Then come the comment, “The airwaves belong to all of us. Fuck the FCC”. I couldn’t help but laugh. The thing is, he’s right. They do. The problem is that without a protocol for using the radio spectrum they would be useless to all of us with frequencies overlapping, impossible interference, gargled communications, etc. It’s just the nature of the beast. A protocol for shared use must be established and that is the function of the FCC. I believe that’s the nature of a number of things in the world. The world is a complex, multi-faceted place and sometimes in order for us to share it we have to establish protocols.