Bottom line, it's too bad the trend is toward dropping the requirement.

Until now, the morse code requirement served the dual purpose as a de facto
"intelligence test" to get in to ham radio, and it also required some
committment (which in turn gets hams to respect the medium).

What I think worries everyone is that without this requirement, the bar will
be lowered to the extent of becoming glorified Citizens Band radio.

And that would be a shame.

-- Stinger

"N8KDV" wrote in message
...


Jeff Renkin wrote:

The point just keeps flying over your head. What if someone
kept
saying to you, if
you want a driver's license, you have to learn Egyptian
Hieroglyphics
first?

Actually Jeff, you don't get the point.

Crap, why the hell can't any of you just concentrate and deal with that
point
before you avoid it and jump to something else???

When you get the license for HF amateur operation, you get privileges
that
include code.

No, you have the privileges to use code on VHF and UHF if you want to
and don't
ever have to pass a code test. In case you are not aware, parts of
those
bands are set aside for code as well.

Code proficiency is part of the requirement.

It was part of the requirement to get a technician's class license too,
wasn't
it? But that was dropped, right? It would have been dropped all
across
the board for every class of license, but the international agreement
between
countries was the ONLY reason it had to stay with the HF licenses.
Now that
the world finally got to vote on this, they did away with the
requirement.
The requirement is NO LONGER. Other countries were quick to remove
the
requirement from their local laws, the US is just very slow at changing
laws. It will happen, it just takes a government like ours months of
boring
useless discussion to come to an obvious conclusion. Have you ever
watched
C-span? Then you would know how ****ed up our government is.

Code does happen
to represent a significant part of HF operation.

So does voice.

It has to do with demonstrating you know what you are doing in areas
that
are pertinent to the license.

"Knowing what you are doing" is a technical reasoning since you are
dealing
with equipment that can cause interference and even death if not used
properly. Not knowing how to send morse code properly is not going to
interfere with any other licensed services or cause anyone to die.

Now, try to answer this without avoiding it....

What if to get a driver's license, you had to learn Egyptian
Hieroglyphics
first?

What if to learn Morse code, you finally had to pull your head out of your
ass
Jeff?

The sound would probably equal that of Krakatoa erupting!

Steve
Holland, MI

Proficient in Morse code.