Dwight Stewart wrote in message ...
"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.

I disagree! There are lots of things that are not being "dumbed down".
For example, I don't see TAC making the marathon one inch shorter.

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?

Who is being excluded? The requirements are what the FCC says they
are. Meet those requirements and the license is granted.

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.

You might want to check those numbers.

Especially when I see darn few 'rocket scientists' in our
existing numbers - in any license class.

Note that reducing the license requirements has NOT brought on
significantly more growth nor attracted the "rocket scientists".
Compare the growth of US ham radio from 1980 to 1990 (no medical
waivers, all hams code tested, Techs had same written as General until
'87) with the growth from 1990 to 2000. Sure there were short term
surges but not long term.

Since 2000 the total growth has been maybe 12,000 even though both
written and code testing were reduced.

Or look at what has happened in Japan since 1995...

In my opinion, the existing license exams serve their purpose well.

All depends what that purpose is. Looking at the FCC enforcement logs,
it seems that they don't ensure some hams know enough about how to
behave on the air.

Therefore, I see no reason to demand that future prospective Hams know more
than new Hams today, twenty years ago, or fifty years ago.

The problem is that as the technology "advances", the knowledge seems
to drop. Read rec.radio.amateur.antenna for a while and see how long
it takes before somebody starts yet another round on the T2FD....

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.

The purpose of tests is not to exclude but to guarantee a certain
minimum level of knowledge. What that knowledge should be is purely a
matter of opinion.

73 de Jim, N2EY