Alan wrote:

(N2EY) wrote in
:



In article , Alun
writes:



(N2EY) wrote in news:c2356669.0401191008.a3c8376
:



http://www.arrl.org/news/stories/2004/01/19/1/?nc=1

Summary:

3 classes of license: Novice, General, Extra


The _only_ merit to that is that testing was free for Novices, so it
would reintroduce a free licence class.


Not part of the proposal as I read it.




As I understand it, the law providing free testing for Novices remains on
the books. Hence, it really does matter what the entry level licence is
called. If it is re-named 'Novice', then the test is free.

No, it's not part of the proposal, and having since read the whole thing on
the ARRL web site, it appears that the league haven't thought about this
particular wrinkle, as they say that the name is still open and it could be
called something else.



The new Novice would replace the existing Technician class as the entry
level exam. It would have less power and fewer VHF/UHF privileges, but
more HF privileges.



Provided the new class that happened to
be called Novice had Tech Plus privileges and they had to pass the
current Element 2 I would have no trouble with that


Why?



I thought the old Novice was too easy



Current Element 2 is very VHF/UHF centric, and so are current Tech Plus
privs. The goal seems to be to strike more of a balance between above
and below 30 MHz privileges.



So change the question pool, but don't dumb it down



5 wpm code test retained for Extra only


Predictably, I do have a problem with that.


Me too. Should be at least 13 and preferably 20 wpm. Sending and
receiving.




Won't happen

Exactly. Nobody else uses code anymore. And what does the FCC
get out of it? And the medical wavier issues come back.... They ain't
gonna do anything to have THAT come up again!




Morse skill testing for voice privileges is illogical and should be
dumped.


It's no more illogical than testing theory in order to be allowed to
use manufactured equipment.




Not in my opinion



Moreover, it can be now,
since it has not been required by the ITU for the last six months.



FCC will most probably just drop it completely.




I think they will too

Again, nobody else uses code anymore. Code made good sense back
50 years ago during the vacuum tube radio era. Simple equipment was
all that was needed and given the reliability of vacuum tube stuff voice
could likely fail when needed. But today's equipment is all made with
chips and quite reliable. And digital modes like packet can handle
automatically
health and welfare traffic code used to do, with less operators needed.




Existing Advanceds get free upgrade to Extra,


OK


Why OK? Why not simply carry the Advanceds as a separate class, as has
been done for the past 3 years and 9 months?



Can't stand loose ends

Let's say that 4 years experience as an advanced is equal to element 4B
(the old extra written an advanced used to be able to take to get his
extra).
So make the advanced turn into an extra next April.




Techs and Tech Pluses get free upgrade to General


Not OK in this scenario, given my comments above



Agreed - but why is it OK for Advanceds to get a free upgrade to Extra,
but not OK for Techs and Tech Pluses to get free upgrade to General?

What is the fundamental difference that makes one freebie OK but not
the other?



As I see it, the new Novice would be a replacement for the Tech, which is
already pretty easy



'Phone image subbands for 80/40/15 widened slightly


Good.


Bad.



Some phone below 7100? No? Why not?


That space is needed for CW and digital modes.



Better to keep those on the Novice freqs and refarm more useful spectrum to
phone

Are the digital modes more tolerant of SW broadcaster QRM than SSB? If so,
move the digital modes to 7150-7300 and voice 7000-7150. If nothing
else, it would help chase the SW broadcasters away...