RadioBanter - View Single Post - Is the code requirement really keeping good people out of ham radio?

Dave Heil · October 29th 06, 12:44 AM posted to rec.radio.amateur.policy

wrote:
wrote:
From: on Thurs, Oct 26 2006 3:36am
wrote:
From: "Dee Flint" on Sun, Oct 22 2006 8:47am
"Opus-" wrote in message

Look around *this* newsgroup. See any "help" in *here*?

Sure do. This newsgroup isn't all of amateur radio, though. In fact,
it's a very small group.

....and I've seen very few looking for any help here. In fact, this
group has had quite a number of instant experts.

The divisiveness stems from the fact that too many no-coders
appear to want to change the requirements with no knowledge, experience, or
understanding of the requirements.

Nonsense.

No, it's the truth.

"Truth" only in the bound-and-determined olde-tymers who
want things kept without change.

You mean like olde-tymers who want the zoning in their neighborhood to
stay the
same forever? There's at least one of those "in this newsgroup".

Do you mean that bound-and-determined olde-tymer in California?

Pro-coders do NOT have some "lock" on What The
Requirements Should Be.

Nobody says they do.

Lots of "nobodies" in this newsgroup, then... :-)

It's not all about *you*, Len ;-)

They never did, despite all the
pro-code propaganda drilled into your respective psyches.

No such "propaganda", Len.

You've been Conditioned,

Not at all.

Conditioned thinking
stuck there by the ARRL for decades...since before you
were able to read...

How? By facts and experience?

I think Len means the standard ARRL conditioning program, the one where
we all practice ARRL-think and the one by which we all stuff checks into
envelopes and mail them to the League periodically.

It should be quite obvious that every other radio service
has either given up on using morse code for communications
or never considered it in the first place.

Why is that important to *amateur radio* policy, Len? Amateurs *do* use
Morse Code - extensively.
Amateur radio POLICY in regards to LICENSE TEST requirements,

License TEST requirements.

That doesn't answer my question at all, Len.

Why are the modes used or not used by *other* radio services important
to
the license test requirements for an *amateur radio* license?

Shouldn't the modes used by radio amateurs be most important to the
license test requirements for an *amateur radio* license?

Len really can't answer that one, Jim. He hasn't had a real answer for
it in over a decade.

The FCC does NOT mandate exclusive use of radiotelegraphy
by US radio amateurs. All allocated modes are OPTIONAL
to use. If all allocated modes are OPTIONAL to use,
why continue a specific pass-fail TEST in ONE MODE?

Because that mode is a big part of amateur radio operation, and skill
in the use of that mode cannot be adequately tested otherwise. And
because there needs to be some testing on the things an Amateur Radio
license authorizes licensees to do.

What you're saying, once all the bluster is removed, is that since hams
are not required to *use* Morse Code, they should not be required to
*learn* Morse Code.

The problem is that if the same idea is applied to other modes, most of
the rest of the license requirements go away.

For example:

The FCC does not require exclusive use of radiotelephone modes by US
radio amateurs. Those modes are all optional to use. Why should there
be any questions on radiotelephone modes on the tests for an amateur
radio license?

The FCC does not require exclusive use of data modes by US radio
amateurs. Those modes are all optional to use. Why should there be any
questions on data modes on the tests for an amateur radio license?

The FCC does not require exclusive use of VHF bands by US radio
amateurs. Choice of band is entirely optional. Why should there be any
questions on VHF on the tests for an amateur radio license?

Etc.

Go down that path for any distance and there's almost nothing left of
the written test. Is that what you want? I think it is.

Len's not sure of what he's *for*, but he knows damned well what he is
*against*.

He is against morse testing, the ARRL, overly-proud radio amateurs and
Fessenden among others.

Dave K8MN