I'm not against beginners; but beginners must begin at
the beginning; and the beginning is not the issuance
of a licence in what is a technical pursuit.

As to CBers, au contraire! - all those who come onto the bands with
M3 callsigns are indistinguishable from CBers - little if
any technical knowledge and a requirement to use rigs of
a type approved by the Britland and with limited power levels. Just like
a CB licence, you get the M3/CB Fools' Licence within 2 days
of starting out from scratch. As the RAE was tackled and then
passed by otherwise-unqualified self-taught 14-year-olds I cannot
see any reason why the standards needed to be lowered to let
a licence be given on a plate to those even less qualified than
the unqualified 14-year-olds.

Such licences are not Ham Radio licences by any stretch
of the imagination, and I regret that you have been deceived
by the commercial interests of the book publisher, the RSCB,
if you have been led to believe otherwise.

I help and encourage many beginners, but never those
of the CB persuasion in the M3 guise.

I do _NOT_ condemn you; I merely refuse to associate
with you because such association will do harm for the
long term future of Ham Radio as a technical pursuit.

"Simon Smith" wrote in message
...
I rather get the feeling you are against anyone who is a "beginner" which
is a pity.
I don't know why you feel like this.. I respect your opinion but - not
all
beginners are "CBers" you know. And not all CBers are rude either.
Perhaps you considerable expertise might be put to better use in helping
newcomers instead of condemning us !
John
M3IIV