Fine, so it's a technical hobby that requires some aptitude and an interest
in one or more facets of the hobby/technical pursuit. I may be more towards
to the technical side of the hobby and have an interest in restoration of
old boatanchors but there are many other areas of interest. If a licensed
amateur is interested in contesting/collecting squares, ragchewing,
homebrewing raynet or even trying something new why not just let them get on
with it. Garath has a bad attitude mainly directed at anyone without a
Morse test, more a case of "I spent 10 long years learning the code, it was
hard work so why should they get HF by just passing the RAE." Morse is a
fantastic mode for DX and weak signal working breaking down the language
barrier and allowing for very simple homebrew but is not a suitable or
appropriate qualification for access to HF (the requirement for Morse was
due to the shared bands to enable the primary user the facility to tell us
to QSY, no longer necessary). We all have our personal views regarding the
qualifications that should be required, usually the skill level of the
individual expressing the view, in your case Walt probably 30 wpm+. My
view is that a higher level of RAE pass mark should be required but that
again is just a personal view. Don't deride the amateurs, deride the system
if need be but blind insults towards a licence "CLASS" are out of order and
to coin a phrase from Garth are not in keeping with the gentlemanly
traditions of amateur radio.


RRH




"Walt Davidson" wrote in message
...
On Fri, 18 Feb 2005 00:57:10 -0000, "real-radio-ham"
wrote:

Don't you ever change the record, amateur radio is what you make it, it's
only a hobby.

CB is only a hobby.

Amateur radio is much more than a hobby. It is a technical pursuit
for people interested in and capable of lifelong learning and
self-development. That excludes the vast majority of CBers, at a
stroke.

73 de G3NYY

--
Walt Davidson Email: g3nyy @despammed.com