RadioBanter - View Single Post - Could you support making the No-code license one year non-renewable?

BDK

In article ,
says...
On 8 Sep 2006 19:28:20 -0700, "Douche Bag"
wrote:

The hobby is dead because of all these old ham geriatrics stuck on
code. No one in the real world gives a **** about code.
Slow Code wrote:
I could support that.

SC

Code is dead - along with anything else that requires skill, practice, or
a little bit of effort.

The folks who want to do away with code should at least learn it and
try it - they might find it to be (gasp) enjoyable. Personally, I could
support doing away with no-code licensing altogether. I realize it won't
happen, but I gotta think that if I managed to learn Morse code, then so
can "they". The only thing no-code licensing accomplished in this neck of
the woods was to move the CB mentality from 11 to 2 meters.

I took the code test (novice 5WPM) back in 73 in high school, and had
the totally worthless (to me) Novice ticket for 2 years or whatever it
was. I spent a lot of time practicing CW, back then and also about 10
years ago, and can't seem to get past 7-8WPM, so I gave up on it, the
sound of it annoys me anyway. It wasn't worth the stress it caused me to
work HF. of course, since I DID pass the 5WPM test, I can be a general
now. But, the interest has passed. I have a 2M mobile and an HT, but if
I buy an HF rig, it's going to be to listen, but not to other hams,
that's as boring as it gets. If I want to hear about hip replacements,
and stuff like that, I can visit the folks at the assisted living place
my mom's in.

I don't care about HF anymore, the code requirement outlasted my
interest in HF. I wanted to be on HF from the time I was a little kid to
about age 40 or so. No longer. I have my other hobbies now, guns, PCs,
home theater, and dogs. Not much time or budget left for ham radio.

Just because you and I were forced to learn it does it mean a new ham
should. It's an obsolete mode in most respects, handy in a certain type
of emergency, but of little other use, except communicating with other
people using it. Nobody's stopping them. Nobody should have to learn it
either.

But it's funny, the people I hear, both on HF and 2M and 440 causing all
the real problems are people who didn't get a no code license,
supposedly don't have a "CB mentality", yet do many of the things you
can hear on 11 meters all the time, keying up on top of other hams,
harassing hams, ignoring calls, etc, based on their call sign timeframe
(Thinking if the ham was ticketed after xx-xx-1990 or whatever, they are
a "hamster", etc). Seems like the code makes you this way, or maybe
getting old does.

I would gladly take the "CB mentality" over the stuff the so-called
"good hams" pull.

BDK