On Mar 27, 5:28?am, "Alun L. Palmer" wrote:
wrote groups.com:





On Mar 19, 9:13?pm, Dave Heil wrote:
wrote:
On Mar 19, 6:42?pm, Dave Heil wrote:
wrote:
On Mar 19, 8:33?am, "an old friend" wrote:
On Mar 18, 12:12 pm, "Alun L. Palmer" wrote:
" wrote
roups.com:
Blimey! You got a callsign! I didn't think it would ever happen.
Welcome aboard. Alun N3KIP

he did just as he said he would years ago

I did NOT "do as I said years ago."


Ah yes, neophyte. What the Gs call 'nippers'.

A nipper is a child - on air we call them 'harmonics'. Oddly enough, we
refer to both spurii and children as 'sprogs' also.

73 de Alun, N3KIP, G8VUK

Alun, for an obvious Anglophile Miccolis doesn't know much. Tsk,
you had best "Elmer" him in such things. Or perhaps have him
watch PBS-TV on a 48-hour marathon of BBS telly shows from
the 1970s.

One of the problems that created the total spam in this newsgroup
is the "newsgroup bloggers" such as Miccolis, vainly trying to find
an outlet for his unrepentant evangelism for morse code mode...and
trying to pretend he is one of the olde-tymers in hamme raddio.

I don't pretend to be one of those "auld hammes" but I've been IN
and ON radio since early 1953...in many radio services, including
being a third-party guest of several licensed amateurs during
live contacts. Miccolis' spite is so long-lasting and ever-present
that he feels compelled to continue his denigrations. No matter.
After the first weeks of that years ago, he is no more than the
usual computer-modem communicator whose ego has been
deflated and thus tries to "get back" at his imaginary "enemies."

---

On February 23rd of 2007 there was a sedate "revolution" in U.S.
amateur radio and the elimination of the code test from all license
class examinations. That obviously HURT many of the egos of
the olde-tymers who now prided themselves (inordinately) on their
mastership of morse and, more importantly, being "better than
average amateurs" for having gained the amateur extra class
license. They loved the status, the rank, the privileges, the
prestige and were not above shoving it on all "lesser" beings in
the hobby. That was morally wrong but one cannot say that to
these mighty macho morsemen without repercussions for at
least a decade's worth of spite on their part.

The "revolution" happened but few took part. At most the changes
taking place were a lot of class upgrades in the USA. There was
NO ground-swell of "no-coders" and "CB-types" suddenly filling the
HF bands with "bad behavior." [the bad behavior was already there
and alive from the already-tested-in-morse-code licensees]

The "revolution" had already begun in 1991 with the creation of
the no-code-test Technician Class. That single category is the
ONLY class responsible for keeping the total number of USA
amateur licensees from falling drastically in numbers. Let's face
it, the "actuarial tables" WILL have their way with ALL human
endeavors, no exceptions. USA amateur radio was growing in
age all along but its greying members were busy, busy denying
it while trying to forget about their own mortality, hearkening
back
to a time when they were young and the world (to them) was new.
Those olde-tymers were too busy making themselves feel
"important" to notice that CHANGES were happening in the
hobby. Such denial is one of the first signs of decay in any
human endeavor...but they denied that, mightily.

I didn't really consider getting an amateur radio license until
February 17th of this year. I'd had (and still do) a commercial
license since March 1956. But, it would be, I thought, a FUN
hobby in my retirement years. I don't need the experience to
"further my career" (I've had one, reasonably successfully) or
"give back" anything to anybody. I was not interested in
"emergency work" or volunteerism in radio...I am a volunteer
in other things. Neither am I interested in advancing the state
of the radio art just for the sake of saying I am advancing the
state of the radio art. Theory and construction are simply part
of the fun, of being able to legally try out some experiments
which are fun to do in themselves. Hobbies are about personal
enjoyment for its own sake...although many pervert their own
desires to "be someone" by taking up certain hobbies in order
to brag about it.

Was the license exam "hard?" No. On the most objective
comparison, it would be on the order of college-level quarter
tests in first or second year of formal study...some memorization
of regulations and new terms and procedures specifically about
amateur radio practice. To anyone who has been IN radio (of
almost any kind) for a decade, it was not difficult. Test element
4 question pool contains about 16 times the minimum specified
number of 10 (as regulated by the FCC) questions and the
"hard" part could be said to be in trying to spot the distractors
in phrasing/syntax obviously put there by the VEC QPC. The
"hard" part might be the waiting between elements while a
group of 20 goes through its required tests and grading, most
of whom were applicants for Technician and General class
licenses in my exam group. By observation I was the only
one going "extra out of the box"...and apparently the only one
in the experience of that ARRL VEC test team to have done
so...at least recently.

Did that test experience and license grant "make me better?"
Not really. What I knew I already knew about radio in general,
from theoretical to original design to operating. The only thing
unique in USA amateur radio is the regulations and the on-air
procedure. Otherwise it is no "better" than any other radio
service...who all have their own specific regulations and
procedure and jargon.

I enjoy some minor prestige in the sequential call assignment
for "newbies" who have achieved amateur extra. It yields a lot
of freedom in operating the bands below 23 cm..no real
restrictions based on Class of license. It gains some attention
from dealers of amateur radio equipment, some good and some
bad considering I ask pointed questions about certain products
and have always been a "hard sell" for salesmen. :-)

It should be a lot of FUN. Except in this (and similar) newsgroups
where the emphasis seems to be on general in-fighting of the
"establishment" versus (or is that 'verses' waxing poetic?) those
seeking change. I have the advantage of knowing other amateurs
from past acquaintenceship and work experience and already
have made "contacts" with some of those. No "elmering" needed
among friends. Real friends, not the false labels of those
pretending
to be "friends."

In this first month of the "revolution," it is like "they gave a
war
but nobody showed up." :-) Wouldn't it be nice if all wars
were like that?

73, Len AF6AY