RadioBanter - View Single Post - CW-forever Guys are gonna go balistic!

[email protected] · October 14th 06, 06:17 PM posted to rec.radio.amateur.policy

wrote:
Dee Flint wrote:
'phone bandspace.

massive snip

Back in the 1960s, the thing that ticked off some hams was not that the
idea of upgrading. It was the idea that the "incentive" to upgrade came
from having existing privileges taken away, rather than new ones added.

History repeats.

Dead on and woe be those who don't understand the principle. Close to
40 years on Mother FCC has apparently spanked us again, some of us
anyway, "because upgrading is in the best long-term interest of the
service". Or some such. God forbid they have the gonads to put it in
those terms in writing. I keep wondering which organization would win a
spin doctoring championship, the FCC or the ARRL.

I had a General ticket for 13-14 years when I lost ~ 70% of my
customary DX-chasing spectrum haunts. It was not pretty. Having to take
the 20wpm code test which back then meant getting 100 characters right
on paper in front of a steely-eyed FCC Examiner and even worse having
to trudge uphill both ways in a blizzard to the FCC office just to take
the test . . sob!

Bleh.

Thousands of us accepeted Mother's stick-and-carrot challenge back then
and it worked for us. If today's Generals really care about regaining
the frequecies they're about to lose their way out was clearly
demonstrated decades ago. My bet is that, for instance, very few
Generals will get off their butts and upgrade just to get back their
80M CW/Data space, they'll jump all over their new 50Khz phone space on
75 and never look back. Ask one which he/she would rather have, the
CW/Data freqs or the new phone privs . . talk about non-incentives . .

There is of course an outside chance that some intern screwed up the
R&O . . they've been there and done that before . .

73 de Jim, N2EY

w3rv