John Kasupski wrote:
On 16 Dec 2006 10:45:27 -0800, wrote:
This sentence summarizes it very well: This change eliminates an
unnecessary regulatory burden that may discourage current amateur radio
operators from advancing their skills and participating more fully in
the benefits of amateur radio.
It's about 30 years too late, but a start in the right direction.
I agree with all the above, including the time frame for when this
change should probably have been made to begin with.
Next
we have to eliminate the current test and replace it with something
that actually tests for skills that are important. A test that
combines knowlege of theory with the skills to safely setup and
courteously operate a station. Once potential ham passes that single
test he is granted full operating privileges on all amateur bands.
This approach would produce one class of license, one test, all or
nothing. I'm not sure that's in the best interests of the ARS. There
is something to be said for having an entry-level license and letting
people work their way up as their skills and experience increase.
It appears to be just another silly purposeless impediment. Once you
have proven that you can set up a station safely and operate
courteously how do the skills needed differ between one portion of a
band and another. Or, which are the skills that improve with time and
how does the current test gauge them.
Put another way, while there are 8-year olds who have made Extra,
they're the exception rather than the norm. We need to attract young
people to ham radio. Hitting 'em with a written test like the one for
Amateur Extra right out of the starting gate probably isn't going to
accomplish that.
I suspect that if we took a zero-based approach to the question of
testing we might come up with something very different than the current
design. Which specific bits of information about radio theory and
operational skills are needed to give some level of assurance that the
proposed ham can operate successfully and safely.
The days of guys building a shack from scratch using surplus radio
equipment and components from the electrical supply house are largely
over. My sense is that the technical testing is geared in some manner
to that world.
Currently licensed hams would be grandfathered in with full operating
privileges.
So you're going to hand Extra privileges to everyone who currently has
a Novice, Technician, General, or Advanced? Well...I currently hold a
General class ticket, and would stand to gain significant additional
band segments on which to operate if I were to be grandfathered in at
Extra-level privileges. Nevertheless, I have to disagree with that.
The fact that the code test is being dropped does not affect the other
technical qualifications for holding a ticket.
Not sure I understand your last point. But that may be from a lack of
caffeine on my part too....
John D. Kasupski, KC2HMZ
Tonawanda, New York
http://kc2hmz.net