On 29 Dec 2005 20:04:16 -0800, wrote in
.com:

Frank Gilliland wrote:
On Thu, 29 Dec 2005 15:18:18 GMT, "KØHB"
wrote in t:

wrote

You'll probably see that raised to 100-150 W on HF because
there are so many ~100 W rigs in existence.

The 50W number was chosen because it's a "safe" level according to OET thinking.

If there were a 50W permit.......

Why even have a "learner's permit" at all? Looks to me like the hobby
got along just fine all these years without one, so why start now?

??

The current license structure is a direct descendant of the 1951
restructuring that
gave us a system with licenses called Novice, Technician, General,
Conditional, Advanced, and Extra.


So the proposed "learner's permit" would be equivalent to..... what?


In
fact, I recently picked up a 1940 edition of the ARRL Handbook, and at
that time there was only one license with no learner's permit.

Read it some more. In 1940 there were three classes of US amateur radio

license - Class A, Class B and Class C. That system was in place from
1933 to 1951,


I browsed through it some more but I didn't see any mention of the
different classes of licenses. You may be right and it may be there,
but I haven't found it yet. Nor have I found any mention of a
"learner's permit".


The
concept (according to the second chapter) was to memorize the code
while building your first receiver, listen on your receiver to improve
your code while building your first transmitter, and all the while
studying for the written test. Sounds like a plan to me.

That's what I did.

The question is how much should be required to get the intitial
license.
In 1940, the minimum requirement for the Class B or C license was
13 wpm Morse Code, sending and receiving, plus a written test of about
50 questions that included multiple choice questions, drawing schematic
and block diagrams, and answering some essay questions.


Sounds fair to me. And if you're going to keep the code then 13wpm is
just about right. When I learned Morse I found that it's hard to learn
at a rate slower than 12wpm. Plus, that's about the minimum speed
needed for any practical use (from what I hear across the spectrum).


Since then, the requirements have changed somewhat...


I think the term is "dumbed down".

Still, I don't see any point in having a learner's permit. It's not
like driving a car........








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