Yankee Can Do

Read the Greatest Generation By Tom Brokaw
Talk to the troops in Iraq and Afghanistan
Talk to the New York Police and Fire Dept about 9/11
Read about Steve Fossett' Round The World
That is Yankee Can Do
These folks didn't let the challenges fake em out

College is full of meaningless tests and courses, yet folks take it all in
stride.
With your attitude you probably don't have a driver's license

Morse thruput can be 40WPM
PSK31 is about 30 to 50WPM
RTTY is about 80WPM
Many folks here probably can't type at these speeds
So much for slow thruput
It is about communicating not speed.

Whatta ya doing in this slow communication mode ??? How fast can you type
???

All the below is BS.


--
Lamont Cranston



wrote in message
oups.com...
Hmmm...since you seem to think that learning an antiquated and absurdly
slow way of communicating isn't the stumbling block, please tell us why
young people are not signing up in droves like they did in the 50's and
60's. And please tell me what "Yankee Can Do" means and how it is
supposed to attract badly needed young blood to a rapidly aging hobby.

Sad to say, but your attitude parrots that of the ARRL and it is
exactly what is going to kill this hobby. Yes, I know it hurts the
pride a bit to realize the test so many hams once had to pass does not
produce meaningful results. Much of the ham test is about as relevant
as requiring buggy skills of prospective automobile driving licensees.
And requiring that new hams pass the old test because the oldtimers had
to will just continue to turn the new blood away.

Ii would be nice to say that hams provide a service in times of
emergency, but the specific instances where they actually benefited the
emergency worker or had a positive impact on locals are fewer and
fewer. I've tried listening to H&W nets in hurricane season and they
seem to degenerate into chaos more than provide a useful service.
People trampling over one another, sending code on top of voice, etc.
It is as though many of them were trying for the contact rather than
trying to help.

If the designation of licensed radio amateur was a desirable goal then
wouldn't we see more young people trying to attain it? But just the
opposite it happening. The graying of the hobby and the inexorable
reduction in the number of active hams is obvious to anyone who listens
in.

And if the greater ham community and the ARRL collectively decides to
continue playing gatekeeper by requiring meaningless tests to become a
licensed radio amateur there will come a time that that nobody will be
knocking at the gate.