"jlrogers" wrote in news:sFpRi.5737
:

Great service and free. Not much of that left.



All services on ham radio are voluntary and always free. It's
what we do best. Ask any of these cruisers who have used the
message services of the 14.300 Mhz Maritime Mobile Service Net
over the past decades.

We are not allowed, by FCC regulations in the USA, to accept any
gratuities for services rendered over ham radio. We hams
wouldn't have it any other way.

The phone company fought tooth and nail for decades with their
FCC minions to prevent hams from making phone patches for third
party persons. Some countries still have laws preventing hams
from making free phone calls over their ham radio stations for
3rd parties.

In times of dire emergencies, like hurricanes or earthquakes, ham
radio is always the communications system that comes out of the
pile.....since as far back as young ham David Sarnoff reported
the SOS he heard on his ham radio from "Titanic" in 1912.

Larry
--
73 DE W4CSC