Phil Kane wrote:
On 31 Dec 2005 15:53:01 -0800, wrote:
I didn't realize that you were no longer practicing your craft.
I most certainly am still active as evidenced by my having to pay
obscene Bar licensing fees every year. I still do ARRL Volunteer
Counsel work, although things up here are pretty quiet, and I'm VP -
Regulatory Counsel at a major player in the public safety communications
engineering field. I do not take on any other clients, and for
personal reasons my FCC work is pro-bono so I'm not dependent on the
FCC for income.
If you think that retiring on 50% of a salary that is 50% (or more)
less than what one could get in the private sector is "fat", I have
a (Weeatstone) bridge that I can sell you "real cheaply".
Consider that the newer FERS states very clearly that your Social
Security IS your retirement.
I opted out of FERS when it first started and remained in the CSRS
plan.
Any intelligent person would
My SocSec is based in the 15 years that worked in the private
sector and paid into SocSec. FERS participants do, however, make
mandatory contributions to a annuity plan that is separate from
SocSec,
1% of gross is hardly a "retirement," thus their claim that the social
security -supplement- IS your retirement.
and all Federal employees are eligible to contribute to a
voluntary 401-K plan that is on a par with "private" plans.
There were 3 choices of investment vehicles; not thrilling. What is a
401K limited to?
Do not forget that a Federal retirement annuity (prension) is not a
"gift" from the taxpayers. It is an annuity that is bought by the
employee with after-tax money and such purchase is not optional.
Writing a sensible NPRM appears to be optional. Does the FCC trot out
that kind of crap to the boradcasters?
The new crop of folks try - seems like writing understandable
English is becoming a lost art - but us old-timers get it fixed a
lot quicker and easier than in the Amateur service because in
general there's no bickering amongst the broadcast engineers when it
comes to FCC regs. I serve as a chapter vice-chair in the Society of
Broadcast Engineers and my firm mentioned above has a working partnership
with one of the largest broadcast consulting engineering firms in the
country.
Anyhow, the FCC is less concerned about things technical in the
broadcast field than they are in stuff like mergers and consumer
affairs and schedules for transition to DTV/HDTV and HD Radio (yes,
there is such a thing). On the latter score, the systems allowed
and in use are total trash. That's what happens when engineers are
replaced by non-engineers who don't or won't understand technical
stuff or what "good regulatory practice" is.
Let that be a lesson to us as we argue about the content of amateur
radio operator exams and the structure of amateur licensing.
--
73 de K2ASP - Phil Kane
Our question pool is no longer under the thumb of the FCC. It is
entirely an amateur endeavor. The VEC may also send code at any speed
they choose, as long as they string out the between word spaces.
Another poster said he couldn't copy 5WPM unless it was sent at the
30WPM rate over a 5 day period. Hi!