"John Smith" wrote in message
...
Dee:

You suggest that to them... they will take it as personal slur on their
intelligence... if they don't have the top licence--they don't want
any--it
is akin to getting an "A" in the class--you would never get the
under-achievers to even bother--they'll just fire up IRC or P2P phone and
chat to Australia all night long... or, whip out the cell phone their
company internship is furnishing... grin

Warmest regards,
John



Hello, John

Are you suggesting just giving away the license? Heck, I learned grade 1.5
Braille in under two weeks (and I can see). I decided I wanted to as a
friend is blind and he provided me a Braille slate (that was many decades
ago). It was not a big deal; in fact my friend then got on my case asking
if I could learn Braille in two weeks, what was the big deal with the code.
The reality was that I was lazy. One week later, I was copying 18 words per
minute. A few years later, I put 40 words per minute, perfect copy, on
paper. It is all a matter of what you want.

As to the cell phone, heck - I can talk to someone anywhere anytime using a
land-line telephone. Or my HT (yes, even Australia, thanks to the 10 meter
repeater). Of course, amateur radio is not designed to replace the
telephone.

I just had some good information from someone via the Internet on fixing a
big Hammond X-66 from the 60s. I've repaired a lot of 'em, but this one had
me bugged. The guy is in Mexico. The telephone would be of no use as I had
to locate someone who knew something about it.

When folks start arguing against amateur radio, they usually bring up a
subject that amateur radio is not ideally designed for. Heck, do you want
to build a house using only a saw? Perhaps only a hammer? No, you choose
the tools you need at the time you need them. In the case of getting help
with the Hammond (gawd, I hated the thought of pouring paint thinner down
into the scanner - but it worked!), how are you going to locate someone
knowledgeable in the subject? Organ repair? No, the organ service guy in
this area has referred a few folks with old Hammonds to me. I've always
been able to fix 'em even if he can't. But this time I was stuck. Calling
the organ repair guy would have yielded no help as I have more knowledge
than he. I did call organ repair service in Chicago as that is all that is
left of the original Hammond company (it was sold to Ford and then Suzuki)
as the new owners didn't want to handle the old stuff. They didn't know, so
the telephone was no longer of any use.

Despite the failure of the telephone, I would not suggest that the telephone
has no use.

Amateur radio has far to many facets to try and pinpoint exactly what it is.
As far as someone not wanting the code, fine. It will go away, but when is
unknown. Had I waited for a codeless tech license, I would have delayed 30
some years waiting for a ticket that didn't require cw.


73 from Rochester, NY
Jim AA2QA