Brian and Ed,

it is never wasted time, to learn and study, we are doing this our life
long. When brian where studying his 20wpm code, this was a bonehard job, and
he got his ticket. Now (maybe since many years) you are still enjoying
hamradio and you had many years of fun with it. To call this WASTED EFFORT,
you should have been waiting till you get the same ticket codefree. You
would have missed a lot of fun throughout the years.

Don't mourn about the reached, look out to have fun on the bands.

And, to answer some of the concernes about rottening down the holy HF-Band
in a CB-manner: Here in Europe, almost all the countries did go the way the
WRC agreed on. And there are zumteen thousand of Radio Amateurs, like in VK,
now reanimating the bands, a little humble for the beginning, maybe, but I
never heard, what you call CB-manners. Maybe this is a problem over there in
the US. We are going to help these new HF-Hams to step onto the train. And
we welcome them as if they were passing the same test as we did.

Greetings from the heart of Europe

Helmut
OE8SOQ
"Ed G." schrieb im Newsbeitrag
. ..


The point is not that wanting qualified operators to have CW or any
other radio-related skill is done for any reason of elitism, it is
that it USED to take much effort to EARN a license. portion snipped
But I was glad I spent the time because it really meant something to
pass the tests. Now, I realize that it will have been a WASTED
EFFORT if this new plan goes through since I would have had extra
privileges anyway.


Brian, I understand your sentiment as I partly feel the same way, but
from what you have said above, it does appear that you place perhaps a bit
more value in your accomplishment in getting the license, and maybe a bit
too little in just enjoying the hobby?

Ed WB6SAT