Alun wrote in message . ..
PAMNO (N2EY) wrote in
:
(quoting the NCVEC proposal)
In addition, the NCVEC proposed mandatory low voltage to the final
transmitter amplifier stage
What about the 110 AC line?
and that only commercially
manufactured transmitters be used by Communicator Class licensees.
Might as well call it "Appliance Class" and be done with it.
Communicator Class licensees must pass a simple 20 question
multiple-choice written exam and will be required to obtain, read and
certify their understanding of the Part 97 rules.
This is the worst part. We must fight this like the plague. What it
*really" means is that there will be *no* rules and regs questions on
the 20 question test!
Agreed
It is precisely this sort of thing that messed up cb.
The VECs Question Pool
Committee feels that it is impossible to cover the FCC rules in what
would be a relatively few questions. The ARRL proposed 25 examination
questions.
The old Novice I took was 20 questions, and we could homebrew. Which I
did from Day One. If a 13 year old kid with books for Elmers could
safely build transmitters in the hollowstate era, why all these
additional limits today?
This petition was reviewed prior to submission by all 14 of the
VEC's around the country, and was approved by a 2 to 1 margin.
Which means a third of them disapproved. Were the individual VEs
polled?
No, I wasn't
Do you get to vote on who represents your VEC at NCVEC? Do individual
VEs have any say at all?
It seems to me that NCVEC wants to get into the regulatory side of
things without having to get input of *any* kind from the VEs
themselves.
This NCVEC thing is very similar to the "Amateur Radio in the 21st
Century" paper by KL7CC. I wrote a detailed commentary on it some time
back.
NCVEC's proposal makes the ARRL one look good. Which isn't saying
much...
It has some improvements over the League's plan, but that all depends on
your perspective.
I don't see *any* improvements over the ARRL proposal. What do you
see, besides no code test for Extra (ARRL proposal drops all code
testing except 5 wpm for Extra)?
I'm not in favour of making the theory requirements easier.
But that's exactly what the NCVEC proposal does - to an extent even
greater than the ARRL proposal.
Both of these
plans upgrade all the Techs to General just to add a lower class licence
without increasing the number of classes. This is because they know the FCC
won't accept anything that makes the end result more complicated.
They also upgrade Advanceds to Extra.
I don't think we need an easier theory test to attract people. If someone
is genuinely interested they will learn the theory.
I agree 100%. NCVEC doesn't - where is the "improvement"?
What we need is simply
publicity. Most people are scarcely aware that ham radio even exists.
Too true.
But we also have to accept that only a small percentage of those who
become aware will be interested, and that of those who are interested
only some will actually become active licensed amateurs regardless of
what is done to the requirements.
The code test does need to be dumped to get over the hurdle of potential
recruits who immediately lose interest when it is mentioned.
I disagree. People who are *really* interested will learn 5 wpm. That
has been demonstrated over and over again.
No-code
licencing for VHF+ did not eliminate that problem, no matter what anyone
says to the contrary. Any intelligent person knew that code testing was
only postponed if they wanted HF.
Sure - but not all want HF, or can get on HF effectively.
However, most people don't even get that
far. Our visibility is zero.
Not zero, but not as high as it needs to be.
Besides, I am sure that the FCC will eliminate
Element 1 anyway.
Let's say for a moment that you're right, and Element 1 is simply
dropped for all license classes. Which proposal do you think is better
- ARRL's or NCVEC's, and why?
By all means restructure, but these petitions are misguided.
I agree that NCVEC's is very misguided.
73 de Jim, N2EY