From: on Wed, 28 Mar 2007 16:00:14 -0400

On 28 Mar 2007 12:14:12 -0700, "AF6AY" wrote:
On Mar 28, 4:31?am, wrote:
On 28 Mar 2007 03:59:16 -0700, wrote:


For example, I've said in the past that I will leave this
newsgroup once the code test is eliminated.

yea and..

News Flash: I CHANGED MY MIND ABOUT THAT! :-)

indeed you did and then you dared to assert your right to do that

Sunnuvagun! Such a revolutionary thought! :-)


Why on earth should the FCC have held to the morse
code exam for an AMATEUR radio license that has
operating privileges BELOW 30 MHz so long? The
rhetorical answer is POLITICS. USA politics. The sort
of politics practiced by a minority group of radio
hobbyists who prefer morse code mode over all other
modes and insist that all newcomers DO AS THEY DID.
Inflexibility with high seasoning of control-freak opinion.
It was nonsense to hold on to the old for so long. The
FCC had enough and removed the code test...which
shows that the FCC is not the staid old government
agency that some think it is. The FCC *is* progressive
but it is also hindered by the politics of opinion (as are
all governmental agencies).

politics and to be fair inertia both of which tend to dominate the
often Torporid rank of the US Govt 'Crats

I have a much lesser view of "inertia" (failure to "get going"
on some problem) that is supposed to be in government. I see
such "inertia" as simply the time required in having to
consider ALL citizens' input, not just one group that thinks
they are the 'only' ones who can be righteous on some viewpoint.

as I said I am sometimes amazed the FCC moved and moved against the
expressed wishes of the ARRL. the total rebuff of the ARRL's efforts
while in this case were good of the ARS makes me have even more
serious doubts about the ARRL's ability to act for the interest of the
ARS

First off, it is pretty clear that the ARRL has "acted" mainly
in the interests of its MEMBERSHIP. In most interpretations of
any membership organization's formal constitution, that IS what
they are obligated to do. They owe NO allegiance to all amateurs
despite their own propaganda.

It should also be clear that the ARRL was standing rather alone
in world opinion on the code test on up to the start of WRC-03.
The IARU wanted amateur radio regulation S25 rewritten to let
each administration decide for themselves whether its applicants
should test for morse code skill. Right after WRC-03 and the
rewriting of S25 (almost all of it), the ARRL remained "neutral"
towards code testing. I.E., they wouldn't commit one way or the
other, perhaps finding the position of the lone opponent to world
opinion being a bit strong and wrong.

When it came to Comments on FCC 05-143, the ARRL proposed a half-
way scheme of some classes having to test for code but other
classes not to test for code. That satisfied no one but those
licensees who were adamantly opposed to code test elimination.
That was no "solution," only a reworded system of class
distinction based on code skills that was just another form of
what already existed.

The ARRL is showing SOME signs of starting to look at the larger
picture of amateur radio in the USA. Not a great deal and one
must look very closely at what it now does and says publicly.
They must try to entice ALL classes to join. There IS attrition
happening in amateur radio ranks. The numbers show the trend has
begun, despite the denial of some. Newcomers are generally
younger and aren't buying "the old guy's club" stuff like the
old guys did when they were young. A dropping membership means
a smaller demographic for selling ads in QST and a lesser income
from the ARRL's huge publications factory. If their income
decreases they will have a tougher time meeting budgets for the
staff and plant and their "free services" to members (only) will
reduce. That has to happen if their membership drops.

My opinion is that the FCC thinks LESS of the ARRL than it might
have two decades or more ago. The FCC isn't fooled by the
political word phrases of Chris Imlay in describing the ARRL.
DC is the heart of political phrases in the USA and those
phrases ARE recognized as such by those working there. Such
political phrases may wow the general populace (as they are
designed to do) but it is difficult to change minds of those
constantly in receipt of them.

This recent favoritism of "robot stations" for data transmission
is viewed as a half-heated attempt to "go modern." It wasn't
thought out well since it is obvious that such automatic stations
are bound to cause interference for the average amateur on the
bands. On some frequencies the QRM from high-power live amateurs
can be bad enough. At least they ARE live and can be identified
and reached...maybe to change their minds. Robots aren't "alive"
and those just do what they are programmed to do.

The "low-cost" "Radio Designer" computer analysis program was
an attempt (I think an honest one this time) to modernize the
potential for electronic breadboarding...for examination of
circuits as well as trying out design models. However, they
didn't SECURE it well enough and the company that made the
prototype didn't support it forever. Right now, a full working
SPICE program with schematic-to-net-list automatic transfer is
offered FREE to anyone wanting to download it from National
Semiconductor's website. It works. I find it most handy for
design as well as checking out others' circuits. National's
SPICE variant is FREE. Not just for radio amateurs but for ALL.
"Radio Designer" has been on the obsolete list for years now.



If Miccolis wants to pretend he is Judge and Jury and
Executioner, let him. He can wear black robes and a veddy
English formal wig if he likes. He doesn't have the authority,
doesn't have the judgement, doesn't have much of anything
upon which to "judge" or "sentence" anyone. He is just a
gavel-banger, making a lot of noise because he loves the
noise. "Court" dismissed.

be fair Len he can indeed sentence us all .. sentence after sentence
after sentence after mind numbing sentence

deny him what you will but please garnt him his thae man can ramble
and roll on and on

YEAH he do! :-) Little nit-picky arguments over minutae, all
design to "prove" his opponents are "wrong." Argue with him on
those things and he will try to turn it around that the arguer
is always wrong. Jay-suss, that gets old fast...it got old years
ago.

I have some some my favoritie colections of his sentenced pulled out
of rapp in file for reading when I need help to sedate my mind after a
particualrly stresfull day

Whatever works for you, Mark. I don't pretend to be a guru.
I've been around the horn a few times in radio, mostly in other
radio services, so I speak from SOME experience. The only thing
"different" in amateur radio is the man-made jargon and procedure.
The theory, the electrons, fields and waves, all work the same
for EVERY radio service. No difference there. Real designers,
real theory folks KNOW this.

The practitioners of amateur radio, at least some, will pound
on the table, get red in the face, hollering that the ONLY way
one can learn "radio" is to become an amateur licensee. That's
totally stupid emotional non-logic. Most of those just haven't
had any real experience in other radio services and the resent
those of us who have done so. Those practitioners want to SHUT
OUT any mention of other radio services as "not applicable" to
amateur radio. That is just compounding the stupidity and
illogic. But, they DO carry on like that and there isn't any
way to stop them. They have their little "clubhouse" and want
to keep it "safe" from those who don't think like they do. :-)

73, Len AF6AY