On Jul 30, 12:25?pm, Michael Coslo wrote:
wrote:
On Jul 27, 2:39?pm, Michael Coslo wrote:
wrote:
I told him that while he would still
want to study it, He didn't need to learn Morse for the test because
they didn't test for it any more.

He said "Maybe in a few months, because I still am not
up to speed for the Morse code part of the test".......

I'd guess that he simply didn't understand you.

Remember that we have had no-code-test ham licenses in the USA for 16
years now. But we've only hand no-code-test ham licenses in the USA
for five months!

Which is a better indicator of Morse Code skill:

1) Once upon a time, maybe decades ago, a person passed a particular
test under certain conditions

or

2) A person demonstrating their *current* skills under real-world
operating conditions?

Seems to me #2 is the better indicator.

Absolutely. If a person knows how to "walk the walk" then they are
there. What test they took is close to irrelevant.

Actually I would say it was relevant the other way - if a person
passed a test once upon a time, but couldn't pass it today. I am
particularly concerned when I read or hear hams say they could not
pass the current exams for the licenses they hold!

IMO, the Testing
process is the beginning, not the destination.

I disagree. It's not a destination, it's a journey.

When I got my Extra in 1970, some folks said I was wasting my time and
effort because "incentive licensing won't last - in a few years
Generals will have all privileges again..."

Kinda another example of what I was talking about above. Even if they
were correct that the incentive licensing would go away, it's hard to
fault picking up knowledge.

Sort of. If you don't have an HDTV, but want one, and you thought the
price would drop significantly in the near future, you'd probably wait
a bit.

However, it's been 37 years since I was told that incentive licensing
would go away soon....

Actually, yes - or rather, for all Advanceds.

Some of us might think that was a pretty hefty sense of entitlement!

Exactly what dud they see as insulting about having to take the same
test?

He was angry that having passed the old Advanced written did not carry
any testing credit towards Extra.

Wow. I guess that the only way to sate this fellow might be to throw
away a lot of the questions. Of course then he might be angry that he is
paying the same that a General pays to upgrade! He'd be paying more per
test question! ;^)

I think the only thing that would have made him happy would have been
to either auto-upgrade all Advanceds to Extra with no test, or to keep
alive the old Element 4B just so Advanceds could take it instead of
Element 4.

IOW: "if you're going to change the rules, change 'em! Don't take
3-1/2 years to make such a simple change!"

Absolutely. While I didn't win the poll that we had a long time ago in
another group, I wasn't all that far off. It should have only taken 6
months, a year tops. Even then, it could have been more like "this is
what is going to happen then, instead of being a minor mystery until the
end.

I remember when the treaty changed in 2003, and the ARRL story on it
said the process would take two years. I thought that was wildy
exaggerated. Turns out it was short by over a year.

What *should* be done, IMHO, is for amateur organizations to do the
legwork up-front. IOW,
I think the way to do a proposal is:
1) Gather up lots of opinions from the amateur community
2) Write a draft proposal
3) Present it to the amateur community, with clear explanation of what
is proposed and why.
4) Gather more opinions by means of surveys, polls, etc.
5) Rework the draft proposal based on the input received
6 Repeat steps 3 through 5 until a proposal gets a clear and
compelling majority of support from the amateur community, and the
opposition's points are dealt with.IOW, build a consensus *first*
7) Submit the proposal to FCC, including the survey/poll results.

If all that were done, FCC would assign an RM number and then be
flooded with supportive comments. FCC could then easily rubber-stamp
approval of the proposal.

But doing it that way takes a lot of grunt work, time, and effort.
Also takes compromise.

Jim, that is an excellent proposal. I think it might be a great way to
keep the league in (better?) touch with the Ham community.

It's not just ARRL that I'm referring to - it's anyone writing a
proposal.

It would
certainly allow Hams to offer feedback and interactivity. It would be a
semi-direct conduit, coordinated by the organization(s).

It's also a lot of boring work!

73 de Jim, N2EY