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By Joel Harrison, W5ZN
ARRL President
March 1, 2006
This month we introduce the newly elected ARRL President, Joel Harrison, W5ZN. Joel has been an active ARRL volunteer since 1981, when at the age of 23 he was appointed Arkansas Section Emergency Coordinator. He progressed through Section Manager, Director, and Vice President, serving for three two-year terms as ARRL First Vice President under President Jim Haynie, W5JBP. He is active from his home station on all amateur bands from 1.8 MHz to 24 GHz. A native of Arkansas and alumnus of Arkansas State University, Joel's profession is nuclear power inspection.
As I write these words I'm in my ham shack in rural Arkansas, listening intently on 80 meters to a just-audible JW9VDA from well above the Arctic Circle and hoping the propagation will move just a hair further this way.
The previous night I was fortunate enough to nab S9SS on 160 meters. I immediately looked at a map of Africa to pinpoint Sao Tome and to marvel at how someone on the Equator could hear me on that frequency.
Thirty-five years after my first exposure, I'm still excited by the magic of radio.
Earlier this year I had the pleasure of being the keynote speaker at the Southeastern VHF Society conference. I talked about "Magic, Main Street, and the Average Joe." After opening with a couple of magic tricks I talked about how the greatest magic was to be able to speak into a microphone or close the contacts on a straight key, and to have the sound disappear into the air and magically reappear thousands of miles away. And the most amazing thing about this is that the Average Joe on Main Street USA can perform this magic right in his own home.
But Main Street USA has changed in 35 years, and so has Joe. The Main Street that once brought a young person to an Elmer's house to learn about the magic of radio is now an avenue to soccer practice, or to a growing number of other sports or non-sports related activities that fill up after-school and weekend time.
Main Street USA is no longer a place of idyllic home life that survives only in TV reruns. Many homes today are managed by, and the children raised by, single parents or grandparents. Even in two-parent households, both typically work at stressful jobs that require them to make long commutes and to spend more hours away from their families.
When I was growing up on Main Street USA I was devoted to one hobby. Now, if you ask the average radio amateur about his or her hobbies you will receive a long list of activities -- but they have less time to devote to any of them.
On Main Street USA today you no longer need a license to gain access to radio spectrum. The consumer market drives wireless products, and millions of people are very willing to pay for access to it.
On Main Street USA today you're no longer "in fashion" to carry a handheld radio around with you. You have to carry the latest consumer electronic gadget to impress the crowd. If you're a kid and you don't have your own cell phone, you're considered weird.
Main Street USA once was a place where you could sit at your station and get away from the worries of everyday life and enjoy a few great moments. Now, far too many radio amateurs vent their everyday problems on the air and we wind up with conflicts and controversies that really have no place in Amateur Radio.
So where does that leave the magic of Amateur Radio?
If you've seen the movie "Field of Dreams" with Kevin Costner, you will remember his search for Dr. Archibald "Moonlight" Graham, played by Burt Lancaster, who gave up his dream of playing professional baseball to serve a greater good as a small-town physician. After learning that Moonlight Graham had passed away some years earlier, Costner's character leaves his hotel room and walks down Main Street in Graham's home town. He begins to notice his surroundings:
Then he sees a lone gentleman walking down the street... Moonlight Graham. And the conversation that follows leads, eventually, to the fulfillment of Graham's dream.
What I would pay to be able to walk down a Main Street USA like that!
But none of us have that ability.
What we do have...what God gave us all, is the gift of memory. We can all remember Main Street USA. When we have to change things -- and for things to get better, they have to change -- we can do it with the memory of what was good, what was bad, and where we made mistakes we can avoid the next time.
When I see live color photos being sent back from Mars, I make sure people remember staying up late one July evening to watch grainy black and white pictures of Neil Armstrong stepping onto the Moon's surface and how radio amateurs helped make it happen.
I believe it is imperative to have a full understanding of the many historical events surrounding Amateur Radio's past to move forward in the future. We're faced with a number of challenging times right now.
We have a license structure in Amateur Radio today that just doesn't work for the entry level. We have technological advancements occurring that our FCC rules can't sort out.
I believe Amateur Radio's future is at least as bright as its past. Radio is still magic, and always will be. But Main Street USA has changed. The Average Joe changed. And so Amateur Radio, too, must change if we are to share our passion for the magic of radio with future generations.
