Mr. Bean (no disrespect intended),

Well done. Couldn't have said it better myself.

Anecdotaly (sp ?) those very thoughts came to me a couple years
ago when a local Extra class operator (here in the colonies) was
on the two meter repeater desperately looking for someone to
repair his malfunctioning 12 volt DC power supply for him.

His highest-class-license meant nothing. Seems he had memorized
enough to pass his test and had no technical ability at all.
My thoughts at the time were that he was about 9 meters short
of where he belonged.

I know this thread will have a much longer life than it should
and it is close to being off topic (if not entirely), but I
couldn't resist agreeing with you.

73,

Phil - N4GWV


"Airy R. Bean" wrote in news:c3jtq9$27suha$3@ID-
217727.news.uni-berlin.de:

For those of you who have the necessary technical
motivation to understand how things work, have become
interested in Ham Radio but are confused by the
attitudes and activities of those who are really no
more than CBers-Masquerading-As-Radio-Hams,
I append a short article explaining the difference.....