K4YZ wrote:
From Morkie's Blog:

QUOTE

a rejoiner to "now you are HF active"

first I thank the author for his thought wether or I not I agree with
you I do respect.
OTOH I simply feel you and others have failed to understand what you
were up against in the Code test fight which I don't consider quite
over yet, anymore than "mission acomlished" was the end of the Iraq
war.

UNQUOTE

Oh, we (the pro-code camp) KNEW what we were up against...Mostly
the overwhelming attitude of a voiciferous "gimmegimmegimme" generation
that would never be satisfied until they could get "something for
nothing" or as close to nothing as possible.

The written tests have been gutted for years. Colleges that used
to allow extra-curricular credit for possessing an Amateur License no
long do it since the questions are public domain and therefore negates
any evidence that the holder really "knows" anything about radio.

Now the one and only "skill" test is gone too.

There is an overwhelming "give me more for less" mindset these
days, and indeed Amateur Radio is an minute part of that mindset, but
it's here and it's done.

Now to see where Amateur Radio "is" in a year or two from now. I
for one will be watching with bated breath to see if this in-rush of
new operators shows up. I say "it ain't a hap'nin thing"

As I have said previously, this is my guess: There's going to be
an initial rush of "upgrades" of current Techs to HF licenses. There
will be a chartable increase in new-license applicants for the next 12
months, and then it will taper back to close-to-original numbers.

I say the overall census of the Amateur Radio service doesn't have
more than a 10% short term increase, and it will be back to "business
as usual" by this time next year.

Any Takers?

Steve, K4YZ

Two no-coders were talking on a remote repeater. They were planning on
doing in, or what sounded like they were going to hurt someone. They
quite clearly were discussing killing a guy. They said they were gonna
go someplace called eleven and shoot skip. Not knowing who 'skip' was, I
prayed for his safety.

On one of those rare occasions that I actually talked to a no-coder on
2-meters, I was on 146.52 simplex. The conversation was going well till
out of no where the familiar flash of ignorance reared it's head again.
The No-Coder was really proud of the fact that my signal was as strong
on the reverse as it was on 52. Where do these people come from ?

Another No-Code funny. During a recent weather net, an OLD guy but a
no-coder no less checked into the net as a mobile enroute to spotting
location. A few minutes later, he notified net control that he was
*destinated. Net control asked for his QTH. The No-Coder responded, The
drive thru at McDonalds.

What's with all the no-coders and vanity calls. Do these idiots actually
think people will think their old timers? Guess again. The minute they
open their mouth the cat will be out of the bag. Real ham's won't ask
you what your First Personal is.