garigue wrote:
Code? Schmode! (what a load?


Yep coming from a no-name ....will consider whom or what the load is ......


You "hams" want to keep the pride and technical prowess
within Amateur Radio into the new Century? Then do this:


1) Eliminate ALL code testing for ALL License classes.


Translation .....I am too lazy to learn 5 WPM. and partake of the 2nd most
utilized communication mode.



2) Enact a complete re-vamping of the pool of the written
exam questions.


Huh ???? revamped ... oh boy I don't even want to get in on this ..... Maybe
we could add questions about gear bevels and ratios for the standard
transmission-CW comparisons out there ...or wait maybe some biology of
whales for buggy whip manufacture .....


(and now for the rub)

3) DO NOT PUBLISH the question pools - PERIOD !


Good point ....try to get it done ......


If someone wants an Amateur License, then they should have a
working technical and theoretical knowledge of RF Theorems and
all related aspects of electrical and electronic practice.

It used to be that if you were an Amateur Operator you had to demonstrate
a degree of professionality and knowledge

Having an Extra Class licence should be *almost equal* to someone
who has a BSEE.


Here is where the bull**** valve gets turned on ...we all have to almost
have EEs to get on the radio ... Look at the name of this
service-hobby-endeavor whatever ...amateur. I am a "ham" as you call it
because of the "love" of radio. If I wanted to make a buck at this then I
should have changed my major 40 years ago. This is the egotistical attitude
held by some of those who have radio or an EE field as their life's work
....frankly I would find it quite droll to have a hobby with a work matching
arrangement. The license is just the first step into an enjoyable lifetime
of learning ....I nor others need know "nearly" it all before I can pound
brass on 40 or yak on 20.

Lessee, I have a kid in college now, and with Educational discount and
him living at home, it's costing $10K per year. Assuming no discount,
we'd be looking at $40K per annum. Living on campus would add even more.
So the prospective ham would be expected to spend "almost" 4 years,
and "almost" 40K to get their Extra?




Both should be able to answer questions on varied

topics of Electrical Engineering with a reasonable degree of competence.


Here we go again ... at this rate you and a few hundred other guys would
have all the bands to yourselves ....sounds like a lot of fun to me. I
think I'll work on my matchbook collection or better yet get into crossstich
with my wife ...at least I would have someting to hang on the wall.


But just think of the QUALITY of those few Hams, Tom!! I just get all
aquiver at the thought. The Extra walks into the room, and all rise to
show respect. After accepting the respect, they are allowed to go back
to their tasks.



Until something along these lines is attempted, Amateur Radio will
be nothing more than glorified CB radio.


I have heard that before ....ya know it really doesn't ruffle my feathers in
the least ... ya know why ??? ...because I am having fun now and over the
past 40 years and guess what .. hopefully for a few more years to come. It
is a shame that you are either a grumpy old gieser or a grumpy young gieser.



I've been to enough club

meetings and hamfests where I've seen holders of Extra Class tickets
who couldn't comprehend even the most basic of electronics theory.


Yepper there Morbitus .... I would have to agree as a lot of guys out
there, CW or not, bought their tickets ..a net result of : 1. The FCC
desire to rid themselves of the millstone of testing and 2. The fact that
most hams are so cheap they still have their 12th birthday money so to ask
them to cough up a few bucks a year proper enforcement .....good luck.

Getting back to the college analogy, Students today and in my day are
expert at the art of cramming. Study like a madman/woman before the
tests, stay up all night cramming. Take the test and do okay, unless you
have a brain cramp during it.

Ask them a question from the test the next day, and they draw a blank.
All that did was to put that knowledge into short term memory, and most
of what they learned is gone after the test.

So not having a question pool isn't going to guarantee much.




It didn't used to be this way!


OOGAA OOGAA Bull**** alarm on ....of course it was .. how about all those
"conditional" fellows out there who knew squat ... how about the people the
FCC caught taking tests for others ... I know a fellow who put a lot of guys
on the air with his antics ...until he got caught. There were always ways
around the system.


Things never were like they used to be, Eh Tom?

- Mike KB3EIA -