Harris wrote in message ...
Leo wrote:

400,000 upgraded licences = 400,000 happier ARRL members.

Not true. Only a small percentage of licensees are ARRL members, and they
tend to be the folks that have been hams a long time.

About 25% of US hams are ARRL members. The percentage of *active* US hams who
are ARRL members is higher, of course.

The ARRL is sticking
it to the folks who worked hard in the past to pass 20 wpm and the Extra
Class written test.

Not just them. What about folks who worked hard in the recent past to get
5 wpm and the General class written?

Ironically, those licensees who stand to gain the most
from this proposal are the ones least likely to join the League.

Keep code for Extra licence = a 'tip of the hat' to the 'Extra' class
members, to give them something to be happy about (although keeping
code testing as a requirement for a licence class that provides only
additional phone bandwidth as a perk is pretty odd

5 WPM for Extra Class is an insult, not a tip of the hat. The Extra Class
ticket grants exclusive 25 kHz CW segments on 80, 40, 20, and 15 meters.
These are prime DX frequencies and the proposal doesn't change that. A
higher speed code test for Extra would be more appropriate.

Agreed! And *none* of the segments are CW only.

-and- the big one:

New entry level licence with 100W on HF phone, plus simplified test =
a whole bunch of happy new potential ARRL members = lots more
potential members....and voters....and customers.....

Maybe. And maybe not.

This is what the proposal is all about, saving ARRL and the jobs of its
staff.

I don't think ARRL is in much trouble on that account.

But as we learned after the No-Code license was created in 1991,
most new hams don't join the League.

Indeed!

73 de Jim, N2EY