On Sun, 20 Jul 2003, Mike Coslo wrote:
D. Stussy wrote:
On Sat, 19 Jul 2003, Mike Coslo wrote:
Reading a report on how long it will likely take for the U.S. to ratify
and drop Morse requirements, we are given an estimate of two years.

This leads me to wonder, is it better to wait for those two years to go
by before getting ones HF ticket, or is it better to just learn Morse
and get the ticket much sooner?


If you pass the code test and get it now, then you won't have to face the wrath
of the idiots on this group complaining about your "inferior" license giving
you equal authority to operate as theirs. :-)

Do you think *that* would be a good reason? I want to do something I'm
interested in as long as I can. I mean really, do you care what say
Larry, Dick, or Jim or even my self think? Two years is just too long to
wait. That's the reason why I think a preson would get the ticket sooner.

1) It's not certainly worse than any other reason one can think of.
2) If he reads here, then he escapes their wrath against the "no-code extra."
3) Is my post any worse than anything else that is posted here? :-)

I couldn't care less what our resident ghouls think.... Maybe they should go
start a new newsgroup: rec.radio.amateur.degeneration

I don't think that anybody really cares anymore... All I ever hear here is a
bunch of code bashing, ARRL bashing (and I'm NOT a member or supporter of them
either), a whole bunch of inside jokes and useless posts, and I haven't even
covered the foolishness of such characters as Stewart Tease and his MURS crap.

As long as we're going to end up eliminating the code element from testing, why
not simplify amateur radio licensing even more? There only need be two
classes:
1 - for HF (any and all operation below 30MHz), and
2 - for VHF and above (above 30MHz).
A person can hold both classes (a 1+2 license) if one passed both tests.
Class 2 is NOT a prerequisite for class 1. We could call a 1+2 a class 3
license, but I wanted to demonstrate the independence of each class.

Transitions:
Novice: No credit. Cancelled upon expiration ("upgrade or die").
Technician (no code): Class 2 only.
Technician (w/ HF): Class 2 only. (The code element is worthless)
General, Adv, Extra: Class 1+2.
Pre-1987 Technicians are equivalent to general so they will get a 1+2 license.

Only a class 2 license can be a repeater trustee.... Except for 10m, since
repeaters must be above 30MHz, this isn't really a problem. Satellite
trusteeship will require a class 1+2 license.

I'm assuming that there will be too much resistance to a SINGLE license class.