Tester wrote:
On 18 Dec 2006 06:02:10 -0800, wrote:
Von Fourche wrote:
Uh, what happened boys? Not enough people wanting to join your little
fraternity? Worried that with nobody joining you SHAMS the government may
give the airwaves to their rightful owners - the American people? Worried
that SHAM radio will become like CB radio?
We know what happened. You arrogant engineers are getting fewer and
fewer in number. Not enough new arrogant engineers to take your place.
Can you find code these days outside the ham band? Does the U.S. Army
Signal Corps have any use for code in 2006? Is there a wire telegraph
system anywhere in the world which uses some version or other of Morse
Code?
Nope. The military abandoned it in the 1980's. Maritime services have
dropped it and professional emergency responders all use something more
up to date.
Every technology has its day and is gone. No one in the first world
makes wool like the Romans today (thank God - urine was an important
part of the process) or wories about using precisely designed
catapaults to knock down castle walls. (outside a special on PBS or
the History Channel)
Maybe there should be a bunch of technological options for a General
ham license of which one should be Morse.
It would serve as much purpose as testing a prospective ham for his
proficiency in operating a spark-gap transmitter. Or to use an
automotive analogy to require prospective drivers to be proficient with
a horse and buggy.
The ability to build a good
transmitter should be another.
The days of hams building a shack from scratch are long over.
Requiring the construction of a transmitter would not provide any
useful information about the suitability of that ham to operate on the
ham bands. I think that requiring a ham to demonstrate both that he
could assemble the components of a station in a safe manner and could
operate using voice in a concise and courteous manner would provide the
most useful information. Couple the operating competency test with a
written one that tests for knowlege of radio theory and the result
could be the first meaningful ham radio exam in over half a century.
--
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