"Thomas Horne" wrote:

I hesitate to put an oar in because I'm one of the brand new Hams.

Congrats and welcome back!


I think that the service can be alive and well if it continues to adapt
itself to public need rather than to individual preferences no matter how
strong.

Personally, I think the service needs to stop focusing on raw numbers of
licensed hams, and instead on the *quality* of those hams licensed. I would
rather have 5 hams licensed who are interested in antenna theory, emergency
communications, etc., rather than 10 hams who are interested in using ham
radio as a cheap cell phone.


Having said that I will now admit that I was somewhat disappointed by the
ease with which I passed the exam. I had a novice license back around
1973. At that time you had to pass the general theory to get a technician
class license. Obviously that is no longer true.

The current structure of the theory examinations is a joke. They really do
nothing to ensure the applicant has a through knowledge of the topical
material. For example, you could have failed each and every question on
rules and regulations, and yet still obtained your license, simply because
you know math well. This is not, IMO, a good thing. We are, however,
unlikely to see this change for the positive, and highly likely to see the
theory examinations weakened further as we move to a "simply mail in your
605, no exam needed" ham radio of the future.

73
kh6hz