John Smith I wrote:
wrote:
....
Len thinks there should be such a requirement. He thinks no one under
the age of 14 years
should be able to get any class of US amateur license, regardless of
their ability to pass the license tests.
There is some concern I have mulled over in my mind, about youngsters
getting a ticket too young. Until fairly recently, I thought it would
be great ...
It's been a great idea since licenses were required.
However, having seen quite a few individuals who might be of a "pedo
nature", now not only do I have a concern about youngsters with internet
access but also with a ham ticket!
Perhaps - but that was not Len's reason for wanting to ban
under-14-year-olds from
amateur radio.
As for your concern, consider this:
- Have there been *any* problems of that nature in amateur radio?
- If interested young people are banned from amateur radio, wouldn't
they
tend to gravitate more to the unlicensed services such as FRS/GMRS and
cb?
Wouldn't the anonymous nature of such radio service be a better venue
for problem-makers
than the callsign-using amateur radio service?
Seems to me the age-requirement thing is a solution in search of a
problem.