Page 14 - Volume 20 No. 6

former. The pain in this case was threats from a Federal Bureaucracy that knew who they were and where they lived. The pleasure was the safety and convenience brought by an inexpensive two-way radio system in those pre-cellphone days.
A sizeable group of CBers also wanted to use the new (to them) technology to do what the displaced Ham operators did as part of their hobby, but without the annoyance of obtaining an amateur radio license, involving a relatively-difficult test plus
learning Morse code. They wanted to “work skip”, which meant they wanted to talk to people hundreds or thousands of miles away by reflecting signals off the ionosphere – a no-no, since the purpose of the Citizens Band was to facilitate short-range communications for family and/or business purposes. In essence, this is similar to wanting to fly an aircraft in controlled airspace without the inconvenience of gaining a pilot’s license.
It wasn’t long before the FCC admitted defeat and decreed that
henceforth, Citizens Band radio would no longer require licenses. A government-approved free-for- all then ensued on the 11-meter shortwave band and what was supposed to be a regulated situation became a chaotic conglomeration of people doing whatever they wanted to do with a spectrum originally allocated for two specific purposes.
Days of Future Past
So, based on that citizen/federal agency template, how is the current system of registering drones, and allowing untrained people – some of them scofflaws - to fly them, going to work out? Let’s see.
On the one hand, you could register the drone and wait for a knock at the door if you ever get caught doing something you shouldn’t. Or, you could not register it – in fact, not even admit to anyone you have it – and have plausible deniability if something untoward happens.
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