On Sun, 12 Jun 2005 16:10:06 -0500, Guy wrote:

..
Because it's the opposite right now. People who don't use it, test for it.
Might as well right that ship.

Vinnie S.

Why not just do away with the morse code test? WRC-03 did away with the
international requirement.

You'd have to ask a morse guy. I don't know.

As a matter of fact, can you think of a reason to have *any* testing
requirements to operate in the ham bands these days?

Yeah, regulation. Clearly, there is working regulation on ham bands. And there
is no regulation on CB band, unless you are running 10,000 watts.

So, you already have both. If you don't want to test for anything, there is CB.

You say code is a complete waste. I could say the same about memorizing
things like the frequencies of a particular ham band, or answering "yes" to
radio waves travelling at the speed of light in a vacuum, or which
ionospheric region is closest to earth, or the meaning of the term "73", or
the meaning of the Q-Signal "QRS", or how much voltage is there from an
automobile battery, or the difference between microfarad and picofarad, or
how to figure out a 1/4 wavelength, or ... I just finished looking through
the element 2 question pool and I can't think of a reason why people are
tested on this stuff anymore.

Well, they ask you 35 questions. I read the queston pool book 3 times. There had
to be hundreds of questions. So to answer your question, ye, I think they should
keep the test. Clearly, I learned from it.

Can't buy any ham gear today that operates outside the ham bands. Why not
just make it illegal to modify store-bought ham gear and then just call it
the Citizen's Bands (bandS -- plural).

A few decades ago, you had to have a little bit of knowledge to
build/operate home brew equipment, and a little less knowledge to operate
store-bought gear and keep it inside the ham bands and prevent
unintentional interference. Now-a-days, it's not economically feasible to
home-brew your own ham gear anymore. It's cheaper to buy it from a store.
And the stuff you buy from the store today almost can't be made to operate
outside the ham bands or un-intentionally interfere with others unless you
pop the lid and screw it up with silly modifications.

Element 4 has questions like, "What's the audio frequency of the color Black
in amateur SSTV?" Who cares? Why would knowing this make you more
qualified to download MMSSTV, hook up your computer sound card to your
radio (using a store bought interface) and start exchanging pictures?

If CW has been superceded by technology, couldn't you say the same thing
about all of amateur radio?

Heck, I just saw an advertisement for a cell phone that accepts broadband TV
now.

I don't mean to sound combative to you or anyone else, I just woke up a few
days ago and started having some epiphanies on this subject.


You don't sound combative. You have a different opinion. You make some valid
points. But as I said before, there is a licensed and unlicensed option. Now,
what you might be asking it to expand the CB band to have more unlicensed
frequencies. I would not have a problem with that.

I did actually enjoy reading those books. So whether the questions are dumb or
not, I did learn a few things.

Vinnie S.