] I long ago let my ARRL membership lapse. I lost
] interest in dealing with the on-line prima donnas that
] frequent their ranks. All the fun radio stuff (e.g.,
] truly random FFH in HF for anti-fade) is prohibited in
] the ham bands. Any radio enthusiast who wants to advance
] the radio arts will likely be playing in the unlicensed
] bands or operating outside the regulations in the amateur
] bands.

I don't really care enough about ARRL to comment on it frequently, but it is basically bad news. The FCC gives people a license which grants them special rights as long as they follow certain rules. So, they become obsessed with enforcing rules, and they become obsessed with special rights. They argued against the 5 gig wifi bands basically because they were opposed to letting commoners use radios. They predicted wifi would be like CB. I agree with these commentators. We should start cutting chunks out of that spectrum.