On Mar 4, 7:36�pm, "Dee Flint" wrote:
wrote in message
ps.com...
On Mar 4, 9:10am, "DeeFlint" wrote:

My bet is that we'll indeed have a de facto two level license
system but I think they will be General and Extra. The step from Tech to
General is not that difficult and the licensee will have access to all
modes, power levels and bands. Unless you are into DXing, contesting or
being a VE, the additional privileges that Extra licensees have are not
that
much of an advantage.

I, for one, encourage all those studying for Technician to go ahead and
get
the General study guide and go for it either at the first sitting or as
soon
as possible thereafter. The Technician will be basically turn into a very
temporary way station on their climb up the ladder.

My fiftieth of a dollar:

There are really two issues here.

The first is "what's the best possible license
structure?" and the second is "what can we
realistically put in place in US amateur radio?"

Agreed. *These really are separate issues. *Usually practicality will
outweigh other issues.

The first step in answering either question is
to define what should be on the tests for a
license that gives *all* US amateur radio
privileges. Some think the testing for the current
full-privileges US amateur radio license isn't
near as comprehensive as it should be, others
think it covers too much, etc.

Since people are split on this issue, my opinion is that we are probably at
about the right level for the full privilege license.

I disagree, but that just proves your point!

So let's assume for discussion that the current requirements
for Extra remain the same. Is it reasonable to ask *all* new
hams to learn all that material to get a license? I say it's not.

Of course if someone wants to, they can.

The answer is almost certainly going to be a
compromise between all those opinions.

That may end up leaving it the same as it is now.

I think we can do better.

The second step is to determine whether
it's a good idea to require a new amateur
to pass that test just to get started in amateur
radio, or whether it's better to have license
classes that require less knowledge in return
for fewer privileges.

Personally I just can't see expecting the new amateur to do that much work
just to be able to start exploring amateur radio. *History has shown that
having a basic licensing option is helpful to the growth and health of
amateur radio.

Agreed.

Then decide how many steps are needed from
"not a ham" to "full privileges".

Agreed. *Three steps has always seemed appropriate to me. *I would not find
two objectionable. *However if we keep the full privilege license as is,
then three really seems better. *The introductory license to try out amateur
radio and then an intermediate license (like the General) that gives a wide
range of privileges but does not require delving into the more exotic
technical and mathematical areas. *Then the full privilege license.

While doing this, it is important to remember
that what appears easy to someone with
significant radio/electronics/engineering/math
background may not appear easy to someone
who does not have that same background.

That is why I favor three license levels but do encourage people to move up
to General as quickly as they can study the material. *I've taught classes
for Tech, General, and Extra to people who had no significant
radio/electronics/engineering/math backgrounds. *So I'm quite familiar with
this issue. With the exception of two who did not take the Extra test, all
my students have passed the respective licenses for which they were
studying. *The ironic part is the two who did not attempt the Extra class
test had significant math/electronics/radio backgrounds. *A lady who was an
administrative assistant (no significant background in math/technical/radio
subjects) passed her Extra with flying colors.

That's great!

But remember that not all new hams take
amateur radio classes. Not practical for
a lot of folks.

Then there's the whole question of what FCC can
be induced to do. In recent R&Os and other
writings, FCC has repeatedly said they consider
the optimum number of license classes to be
three.

So it seems the way to go is:

- an "entry level" license that is easy to get
and gives limited privileges

- a "middle level" license that requires more
knowledge, but not everything

- a "full privileges" license that has comprehensive
knowledge requirements for full privileges

That's close to what we have now, but there are
improvements that can be made. First is the
extreme unbalance in the privileges of the
Technician license. That may be a hard
sell to FCC.

With the expansion of theNovice/Tech+ privileges in December and dropping
of the code so all Techs have those privileges, much of that imbalance has
now been alleviated.

Not really. The defacto entry level license has
all VHF/UHF, including full power at "meat cooking frequencies"
(thanks to WK3C for that phrase). Which means a lot of testing
details on that stuff.

But they only have two modes on part of 10 meters, and
one mode on parts of 80/40/15.

We can do better than that for entry-level!

---

It should be remembered that the oldNoviceclass
was extremely successful in getting new hams
started in amateur radio, at least for the first 30-40
or so years of its existence. The main feature of
the oldNovicethat worked so well was that it
required minimal testing, so that newcomers could
get on the air and see if amateur radio was really
for them.

I wasn't into radio until 1992 and the codeless Tech was already rapidly
becoming the entry point of choice. *So I can't really comment on this.

What drove the change was the repeater boom of the late 1970s
and 1980s. Splitting the old General/Tech written in half in
1987 pushed it more, and dropping Element 1 for Tech
in 1991 sealed the deal.

However my elmer/teacher strongly encouraged us to go for Tech+ right off
the bat. *I'm glad I did. *However, it took so long for the license to come
that I passed my General in the meantime and went on the air as a /AG the
day that first license arrived. *So I did not experience operating as aNovice.

I was a Novice for about 10 months (1967-68). Lot of fun,
many contacts with incredibly simple gear.

There was never any requirement for newcomers
to start with theNovice, yet for decades most new
hams did just that.

When the codeless Technician came into being, it quickly became the entry
point of choice and rapidly chipped away at theNovicelicensing approach.

The change had begun years earlier, driven by the repeater
boom.

What's needed now is a "Novicelicense for the
21st Century", IMHO

So just out of curiosity, what is your version of the 21st "novice" or entry
license?

Here's a whole license structure for ya,
in ten points:

1) Three classes of license: Basic, Intermediate, Full (change the
names if you don't like them - Third, Second, First, Novice,
General, Extra, whatever)

2) HF/MF bands split into subbands by mode and split again by
license class. Some bands (30 meters) may be split by mode only.

3) "Basic" license test is simple 20-25 question exam on regs,
procedures, and safety. Very little technical and RF exposure
stuff. Main objective is to keep Basics out of trouble. Basics
get 100-50 watts on HF/MF and 25 watts or so on VHF/UHF (power
level is below the point where RF exposure evaluation required).
Modes are CW, analog voice, PSK31, RTTY and many of the other
common data modes like packet. Basics cannot be VEs, control
ops for repeaters, or club trustees. Basics get most VHF/UHF
and about half of HF/MF spectrum, including parts of all
subbands-by-mode. Basic is meant as the entry level. Easy to
get, lots of privs, yet there's still a reason to upgrade.

4) "Intermediate" license test is more complex 50-60 question exam
on regs, procedures, safety and technical stuff. Intermediates
get 300-400 watts on all bands, all modes. Intermediates can be
VEs after qualification (see below), control ops for repeaters,
and club trustees. Intermediates get all VHF/UHF and about
three quarters (or more) of HF/MF spectrum.

5) "Full" license test is quite complex 100-120 question exam on
regs, procedures, safety and technical stuff. Mostly technical,
with some regs to cover expanded privs. Fulls get all
privileges, modes, bands, etc. except that Fulls can be VEs
only after qualification (see below).

6) All licenses are 10 year and fully renewable/modifiable. No
age requirements or limits.

7) Basics have six-character calls, Intermediates have five- or
six-character calls, and Fulls have four-, five-, or
six-character calls. Nobody has to give up an existing callsign.

8) Separate 30-35 question test for VE qualification, open to
Intermediates and Fulls, which allows them to be VEs. Existing
VEs are grandfathered.

9) Existing Novices, Techs and Tech Pluses become Basics,
existing Generals and Advanceds become Intermediates, and
existing Extras become Fulls. Existing hams can continue to
use their current privileges when they exceed privileges granted
by the new system as long as they retain license
documents showing their old license class. Existing Tech Pluses
who can show proof of license before Mar 21, 1987 get Intermediates.

10) Change to new system is at least six months to one year after
announcement to allow time for question pool reorganization and
so existing hams can upgrade under present rules if they want.

End result is a system that is easy to get into (Basic is
envisioned as a 21st century version of the Novice) and has
reasonable but meaningful steps to reach full privileges.
Testing matches the privs granted. Power levels are set about
one S-unit apart. Nobody loses any privileges. There are only
three license classes and four written tests, so FCC doesn't
have more work.

73 de Jim, N2EY
____