From: John Smith I on Tues, Jan 23 2007 10:11 am

To Whom It May Concern:

There seems much debate here on the "policy", criteria and form of
amateur exams. Some feel ancient ones should be used, for example, how
to construct a spark gap xmitter. Others feel you should be required to
demonstrate you can write a novel (essay tests) and these fellows are
most likely to be english professors--where your use of proper spelling,
grammar, sentence structure, etc. are important to your profession you
are studying for (however, this is absolutely NOT important to
construct, repair nor even operate ham gear.) Others feel you should
just make the test "damn hard", so as to replace the difficulty lost
when morse falls.

According to Urban Myth, the US amateur radio test SHOULD
be equal to a PhD dissertation! Or possibly for a Nobel
Prize!

Ooops, the Nobel is NOT a contest and one CANNOT take
any "test" to win such an award. :-)

Most if not ALL who argue ANY of the above are sheer idiots.

Agreed. :-)

Once
again, they prove what they are, who they are, their intentions and just
what a wart on amateur radios A$$ THEY ARE ...

I disagree only in that I say they are just "warts."

The test should simply cover what is necessary.

Sounds reasonable. However the Federal Communications
Commission does the deciding. They always have. Since
1934 when an Act of Congress created them.

The VEC QPC does the dog work of making up the required
minimum of questions-answers. The VEC QPC must, by
regulation, be already-licensed radio amateurs. However,
those same regulations say NOTHING about the VEC being
"certificated" test designers nor test proctors!

Now, none of the wannabe test-designers in here have
ANY claimed "certification" in test designing nor
test proctoring. Only one denizen of this Din of
Inequity has any teaching credential - Cecil Moore.
Cecil ain't being some kind of "knowitall test
designer" like those other knowitalls.

Strange, but NOT ONE in here has claimed any
communications with the VEC QPC about license test
content! They are all just blabbing to make
themselves SOUND "important" and "knowledgeable."

But again, you are NOT
going to be able to trust these individuals as they have argued morse is
necessary--and now they have been proved wrong.

That won't stop them. Their egos must be running on
bunny batteries. :-)

To them it is an "endless summer" of the 1930s...when
Kode was King...because there wasn't a helluva lot
else in modes except AM voice.

What was the "need" to "replace anything in the test"
when code testing ended? Not a damn thing. Going back
to US amateur radio regulations about license testing,
the minimum number of questions in the pool is ten...but
there is NO MAXIMUM. The actual question pool could have
20 or 30 or 40 or 50 times the minimum number of
questions. Or a hundred or even a thousand. If there
was any REAL NEED to "replace" the code test, then the
QPC could get busy and generate those 20 or 30 or 40 or
50 times the minimum. Hard work that, but it could be
done...and without having to change a single regulation
on testing that exists today or last year or the year
before that.

With a high enough question pool question minimum, the
point could be reached to defeat the most eidetic of
the idiot savants. The "all today just memorize the
answers" is hooey anyway and with a very large pool,
nobody could get away with "just memorizing everything."
That claim could be tossed in the dumpster along with
that stupid "ya GOTTA test for code!" bull****.

They will now argue insane methods and ways to construct ridiculous
tests. Let us keep from allowing the fox to run the hen house!

The "foxes" must eat. A long time ago, elderly "foxes"
decided that all MUST do as they say and they said that
a morse code test was ABSOLUTELY, indesputably,
important. More important that life itself, erhaps.
"Foxes" of later generations picked up on that and
kept it going, almost as if it were in their genes (or
perhaps jeans). The "foxes" keep wanting only cordon
bleu just as they have enjoyed for decades. Now they
are getting the first symptoms of helicobacter pylori and
the poor spoiled "foxes" are getting indigestion. Boo-hoo.

Isn't anyone watching these guys and keeping them out of trouble? (or,
what kind of nut house are they running here?)

Nah, the Nurse Ratchets all think They are "foxes."
The "foxes" DEMANDED to run the hen house. They were
the "only" important ones, the "knowledgeable" ones,
and all the rest (who did not love, honor, and cherish
morse code) were simply too mundane for their elitist
clique. [a "clique-oh club" if you will, all wet, but
without the effervescence]

If anyone REALLY wanted a "better test," they would
MAKE TIME to whip up a Petition and submit it to the
FCC and eventually get an NPRM to jabber about. They
have NOT done that. All the "foxes" want to do is
sit around jabbering about it, trying to appear all
smart and guru-like. Little men with little else to
do but put up images of their alleged expertise. Pfft.

LA