Why does amateur radio exist in 1999..

Get ready for the 'left field' approach. Amateur radio still exists because many lovers of the radio art who believed that the technology should be available to ordinary, every-day, but qualified citizens, insisted on it. The harmonically related amateur frequencies have been 'eyed' from day one. And if they're still here, someone had to fight. Perhaps this will invite the anecdotal evidence.

But if you're asking: 'Where do we go from here?'...If we could just remember that most of what we have in electronic communications came from us, maybe we could believe that there's more to give. It is admitedly overwhelming what we got back in terms of operating systems. I remember guys dialing their phones with rotary dials or just momentary switches from their cars. Vibrating supplies. dynamos. The best of what we did used to be for the military. SSB.

You must believe there's more. And if you can't get with that, then try to be the person in your community who explains the complicated and represents his fellow man in this complex technical world. The technical ombudsman.

Just one thing more. Everyone agrees this is a hobby. But it is not 'just a hobby.' It is at least a hobby. In fact, it is chartered as a service and has never, to my knowledge, been successfully defended as a 'hobby.'