Well said Sir!

Even the "appliance operators" of old had to know how the appliance worked.

Were I the FCC, your first transmitter and receiver would be built from
scratch and a minimum of 25 CW contacts confirmed before the use of a
purchased rig would be allowed.

Next no one would be permitted to apply for extra class without 5 years
experience and 250 confirmed contacts.Also participation in a public
service capacity, (i.e. traffic net, weather warning net, charity races etc)
and have elemered 5 new hams.

I have a friend that has an extra and has never been on the air. He took the
exams at a hamfest just to see if he could pass them. He said he studied the
question pools for a couple of days on-line. He spent 20 years in the Navy
as a Chief Radioman, so the code was a joke for him.

"Dave Shrader" wrote in message
news:XnFJb.49405$I07.151812@attbi_s53...
w4jle wrote:



(They told me all I had to do to become a ham was to memorize these
questions.)



SNIP That's absolutely TRUE if all you want is to "...become a ham..."

However, if you want to install and operate an efficient short wave
radio station you need to learn quite a bit!

DD, W1MCE