"Brian Kelly" wrote:

(snip) I'll cheerfully give up thumping for
code tests when the writtens get much stiffer
than they are now. As the situation stands
now everywhere I look the service is being
dumbed down.


In case you haven't noticed, the entire country is being "dumbed" down. So
what are you going to do about it - continue to excluded more and more
people from Ham Radio as you wait for someone to do something about it?

I don't like what is going on in this country either. But I don't see how
we can sit here and insist Ham Radio is only for "smart" people as we
exclude more and more in a growing country while our own numbers barely
remain stable. Especially when I see darn few 'rocket scientists' in our
existing numbers - in any license class.

In my opinion, the existing license exams serve their purpose well.
Therefore, I see no reason to demand that future prospective Hams know more
than new Hams today, twenty years ago, or fifty years ago.

Of course, you're perfectly free to continue "thumping for code tests" as
much as you want. The same with the "stiffer" written tests. However, since
code tests serve no purpose other than to exclude today and stiffer written
tests would do the same, you certainly won't get any support from me.


Dwight Stewart (W5NET)

http://www.qsl.net/w5net/