"Larry Roll K3LT" wrote:

How many CW contacts have you made in your
ham "career?" I'm into the multiple thousands. If
you have less than 500, then you're not even close
to being qualified to render a judgment against
code testing.


And exactly how does the number of CW contacts made qualify one to make a
judgement about the value of code testing as a license requirement? Again,
code testing is not, and never has been, solely for the benefit of Amateur
Radio (or solely to benefit CW operations on those bands). Code use is
declining here and around the world. Looking solely at Amateur Radio, even
the majority of those operators don't use code/cw on any routine or regular
basis. Because of these facts, the need for a code testing requirement has
vanished.


Twenty-two plus years of OTA HF experience as a
radio amateur, which has been about 80 percent CW,
19 percent RTTY and other digital modes, and 1
percent phone. What's your breakdown?


I believe the question was what experience you have that makes you
UNIQUELY qualified to judge the value of a specific TESTING REQUIREMENT. I
don't see anything above that would make you uniquely qualified in this
subject. Again, code testing is not, and never has been, solely for the
benefit of Amateur Radio (or operations in those bands). Therefore, the FCC
is not going to judge the value of code testing based solely on Amateur
Radio. You have to look at the larger picture, Larry. At this point, you're
still too narrowly focused.


Dwight Stewart (W5NET)

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