Dee Flint wrote:
wrote in message
oups.com...
Dee Flint wrote:
It is very difficult to guess but I would expect a significant number of
people to take the Tech & General at the same time as there is only a small
jump in difficulty level so that their original licenses will be General.
Well, "small jump in difficulty" is subjective. Back in 1987, FCC
thought
the difference was significant enough that they split the old General
into
two elements. Old 3 became 3A and 3B, with 3A for Tech and both for
General.
In any classes that I teach, that will be the approach that I take and I
will have a syllabus geared towards that goal. If you are familiar with the
"Now You're Talking" study guides from the 1992 era, you will recall that it
covered both the Novice written and Technician written. It actively
encouraged students to take the road of studying for both writtens (and
code) and take all the tests. I'll take the same approach. This way the
material that is repeated between the Tech & General needs to be studied
only once.
I think it all depends on the individual. Some will find the two tests
a big step, others won't.
However, it wouldn't surprise me to see Extra eventually become the largest
class under the upcoming system.
Well, look at the numbers.
Back in May 2000, Extras made up just 11.67% of then-current licenses
held by individuals (78,750 out of 674,792)
Today, Extras make up 16.10% of current licenses held by individuals
(106,900 out of 664,040).
Meanwhile, the combined Tech class percentages have *dropped*:
May 2000: 49.5% of then-current licenses held by individuals were Tech
or Tech Plus (334,254 out of 674,792)
Today: 47.8% of current licenses held by individuals are Tech or Tech
Plus (317,452 out of 664,040)
If you add in Novices, so that you're looking at all the "entry level"
licenses, the difference is even greater.
Perhaps you're right, Dee. Maybe the system will evolve to something
approaching a two-level system, in that there will be a few Techs, lots
of Generals and lots of Extras.
---
I read the FCC document again. Seems very clear to me that FCC's vision
for the Technician is that it will have *no*, repeat *no*, HF
privileges.
Instead, FCC intends that those who want HF pass at least the General
test.
Of course those who have Novice or "Tech with HF" privileges won't lose
them. But both existing noncodetested Techs and future ones will have
no
HF privileges at all, under the FCC proposal. This is evident from a
careful reading of the proposal.
Here's why:
The proposed changes to the rules are very simple.
First, Element 1 would simply be deleted. No more Morse Code testing at
all.
Second, the requirements and credits for existing licenses would change
slightly. Getting a Tech would require Element 2, getting a General
would require Elements 2 and 3, and getting an Extra would require
Elements 2, 3 and 4.
And that's about it for changes to Part 97.
The Part 97 verbiage about HF privileges for Techs involves those who
have passed a Morse Code exam and retain license documents to prove it.
But if
Element 1 is deleted, there will be no way for anyone to pass such an
exam, and so there will be no new Techs with HF privileges.
IOW, existing noncodetested Techs *will not* get any HF under the FCC
proposal as written.
This is backed up by repeated verbiage in the document about no one
getting
privileges without passing the exams. No free upgrades for anybody. FCC
also
repeatedly mentions the generous HF and MF privileges that would be
obtained
by passing the written for General.
73 de Jim, N2EY
313
btw, the comments of two regular posters to rrap were mentioned in the
document.
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