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"Guy" wrote in message news:F64re.15840$mC.13248@okepread07... Landshark wrote: "Guy" wrote in message news:TKMqe.15606$mC.3822@okepread07... wrote: Why should people who *want* to use it have to test for it? Why not? If you want to drive, you have to take a test, if you want to get into college you have to take a test, so what's wrong with if you are going to use code only about taking a test? Landshark I don't understand the logic in what you're saying. Are there other tests that we should introduce into society? Should we implement taking a test before you are deemed qualified to open a credit card account? Should we implement taking a test before you are deemed qualified to take the mail out of your mailbox and bring it into your house for further sorting, opening, and reading? Should we implement taking a test before you are deemed qualified to operate a gas pump to fill your car with gasoline? Should we implement taking a test before you are deemed qualified to reproduce? Ok, I'm stating some crazy things here to try to make a point... A little, but a couple might have possibilities ;) How about just leaving some space in the ham bands for CW? If it gets used, fine, keep it. If CW dies out (and it will eventually--us old timers who got their ham ticket the hard way will eventually RIP) then reallocate it for other modes. Good, no problem there either. By the way, I don't remember having to take a test to get into college. I have a BS in Computer Science and a Masters in Computer Information Systems. As long as I paid my bill, they allowed me to go to class. Maybe not a community or Some state college's, but most want some sort of aptitude test to make sure you are not wasting the teachers & university's time. And the reason for the test to drive a car is to show something in the way of being able to drive a car and not kill someone else while doing it. I can understand the reason for the test to drive a car. I can explain valid reasons for some of my crazy examples above also. So why test for CW? It's not like anyone who attempts to operate CW without knowing all the letters at an arbitrary speed will endanger anyone or themselves while doing it. If you can read 20 to 30 WPM, would you want to here somebody pounding out only 5 WPM? Otherwise would you want to see the bands allocated to certain speeds? Point being, it would be called a qualifying test, to make sure you are able to operate in the mode you test for. Why have a test to operate any mode in any ham band these days? Most modes you are correct, but CW is almost an art, as such is dieing out. Guy Landshark -- Some of them are living an illusion Bounded by the darkness of their minds, In their eyes it's nation against nation, With racial pride, sad hearts they hide, Thinking only of themselves, They shun the light, They think they're right Living in the empty shells. |
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On Mon, 13 Jun 2005 13:27:31 GMT, "Landshark" wrote:
By the way, I don't remember having to take a test to get into college. I have a BS in Computer Science and a Masters in Computer Information Systems. I am sorry, but this is a poor example. First off, some colleges require a basic math/algebra and English test. Even where you don't have to take a test to get into college, you still have to take a ton of tests to graduate. If your point is that you don't need a test to start something, then you are correct. But in many skilled professions, jobs, etc, most require some sort of test taking or licensing procedure. Please find me a college you can attend that will give you a degree for just showing up, and not taking tests. As long as I paid my bill, they allowed me to go to class. So what? Are they going to give you a degree because you paid your bill? Were you allowed to sit in on advanced classes without passing earlier pre-requisites, just because you paid your bill? Vinnie S. |
Vinnie S. wrote:
As long as I paid my bill, they allowed me to go to class. So what? Are they going to give you a degree because you paid your bill? Were you allowed to sit in on advanced classes without passing earlier pre-requisites, just because you paid your bill? Vinnie S. No, to both questions. |
Landshark wrote:
If you can read 20 to 30 WPM, would you want to here somebody pounding out only 5 WPM? Otherwise would you want to see the bands allocated to certain speeds? Point being, it would be called a qualifying test, to make sure you are able to operate in the mode you test for. Landshark I've always been able to read *much* faster than I can copy code. I don't understand what you're getting at there. No need to divide up the freqs for different speeds. Generally, faster is lower in freq by gentlemen's agreement. Not always, but generally from what I've seen. FYI, there's currently a proposal to divide up the freqs based on bandwidth requirements. What's the difference between someone who passed the 5 WPM code test and has now forgotten it and someone who never learned 5 WPM? Neither operate the mode. So why not just have some freqs dedicated to those who want to use it and quit testing for it? If you can operate voice on 2M, you can operate voice on HF. Why make people qualify for a mode they have no interest in? If certain freqs are dedicated to CW, why make someone qualify for it if they're never going to use those freqs? There once was a time when the only way you could qualify for the highest class ham license was to show you could copy 20 WPM code. Someone stood up and said, "Hey, the international requirement is now at 5 WPM." So we did away with element 1b and 1c. WRC-03 did away with code entirely. So why are we still testing element 1a? Guy |
On 10 Jun 2005 23:06:45 GMT, Steveo wrote:
Vinnie S. wrote: On 10 Jun 2005 22:41:04 GMT, Steveo wrote: Take Care! Hydro Hello Hydro. Walkie talkies used to be fun! That is what got me started !!!!!! Vinnie S. Same here..an Archer something or other iirc. What a beast it created, eh? I think I was in the third grade. A pair of Soundesign Ch 14 kids walkie talkies, around 1976 or so. Dang now I really feel old. I was driving by then! I had a Sears 100 mW base station. Tuned all 23 channels, plus shortwave and transmitted in Ch 14. I thought I was working "rare" DX if I could make it to the end of the neighborhood... I hit a CB station (I didn't know what CB was at that time), and when I talked to someone, that was essentially it. I abused those radios pretty badly. But they had little to no range. It seemed I talked that one time, and never again hit anyone. But that didn't keep me from trying 1 million times. I know what you mean, Vin. I had that old Lafayette tube radio back in 1969, and I had to search to hear anyone, then yell for them 100 times in hopes of a response. My Mom is a fairly good seamstress so she even made me a jacket with my CB call on the back of it for the coffee breaks. Thinking back on it, I was a class A nerd! Yea, I used to stencil CB jargon, handles and callsigns on my school notebook. I took some ribbing from those who didn't "get it" Around the 8th grade, I was able to get one of thosetoy base stations, and talk regularly to someone. But had about 1/4 mile range. I did beg my father for a CB, but my parents really didn't support my hobbies at all. I had to wait until I got older before I was able to do the hobbies on my own. My sophmore year in HS, I finally got my first CB, a TRC-422A. Still have it. It seemed that my father finally got sick of me talking about it, and he finally got me one and a power suplly for Christmas. Of course, I was delivering papers until I ccould afford a Turner +3 and a Starduster. Did that for a couple years. Once I graduated HS, that was it until 2 years ago. Then I found you guys. I must admit, I feel like a kid again. Vinnie S. Well it sounds like you are a kid compared to me, Enzo. It's especially cool that the hobby still provides good friends like you and many others here. Rock on. Cripes! You sound older than me! Dave "Sandbagger" http://home.ptd.net/~n3cvj |
On Fri, 10 Jun 2005 20:36:48 -0400, Vinnie S.
wrote: You're freaking me out with your CB flashbacks now, Enzo! At any rate, congrats on the new rig. I am 38 now. The problem is, it took forever to get to 21 years old. It only too 2 weeks to get from 21 to 38 years old. That's the way it seems. The first 15 years goes by like molasses on a cold day. Then before you know it, you're out of school. Then 21 looms large just around the corner. Then, in what feels like 2 or 3 years, you hit 30. Then the next 15 years goes by just as fast as the last 7 or 8. I've been told by quite a few sage old timers that the older you get, the faster time seems to go by. I guess it's all relative. Dave "Sandbagger" |
On Sat, 11 Jun 2005 11:39:51 -0400, Scott in Baltimore
wrote: I "found" them a few minutes later when I tuned for someone else. That's one very good reason to have a locked clarifier. Every time I had a locked clarifier, I get off frequency comments. So you're going to believe that someone who's clarifier isn't at 12 o'clock on the 00's is right? I find it annoying to have to chase someone around because they tune to my on-frequency radio and they change their transmit frequency. A common complaint. But the alternative of having several different people on slightly different frequencies, requiring you to tune each one for clean fidelity is, IMHO, a bigger irritant. Have it properly aligned by a tech with calibrated equipment. That's good for you, but not for the other guys who align with a "galaxy" frequency counter. Also, the Unidens stay on freq better then the Galaxy and Connex crap. An old Cobra with the Uniden guts will stay on freq summer and winter, while a Galaxy will drift a lot from turn on to warmup. My old TRC-451 (Cobra 146) just keeps on going. Feed that into a 225 box on low using a 636L into a KW-7. Killer SSB combo. You are right about the TRC-451. I aligned mine 6 years ago, and it's still rock solid on. The radio was hacked up when I got it. Now it's back to stock with the final placed off the regulator for dependability. Mine is still basically stock, with the exception of an unlocked clarifier. I can stand locked-on ones. Dave "Sandbagger" http://home.ptd.net/~n3cvj |
Like trying to get my gay loser old man to get a job?
"Guy" wrote in message Where are today's challenges? |
On Sat, 11 Jun 2005 09:11:03 -0500, Guy wrote:
HarryHydro wrote: Hi Folks: Just remeniscing and old realistic CB walkie talkie I had. It had the metal ground-straps on the side and it could talk 2.4 miles (just measured on a map) with an S7. My Wife just picked up two similar walkie-talkies at a yard sale for $5! I was wide-eyed at the size of the thing! I remember when I was a kid wanting one of these walkie-talkies so bad that I got the dimensions and made a cardboard model to see 'how it felt holding one'! Wow! Thinking back! Anyone ever routinely talk further on a CB walkie talkie? The guy I use to talk to frequently in South Toms River was Electro-Express. I - you guessed it - was Hydro! (hydrofoil) He'd say, "The only walkie-talkie I know that'll talk that far is Hydro's". I currently use a Johnson Messenger Viking. Yes, I know it's 2005.. ;-) This radio talks and sounds nice too! Take Care! Hydro I was somewhere between 8 an 10 years old when I got my first pair of CB walkie-talkies for Christmas or my birthday back in the early 70s. This was the results of my parents recognizing a talent for electronics in me back then. By then, I'd put together a myiad of electronic projects like crystal radios, alarms, mosture detectors, dc motors, light detectors, etc. These little CB walkie-talkies were in little plastic blue briefcase-style boxes, less than 1 foot by 1 foot. You'd open them up, extend the telescopic antenna and turn it on. Ony one channel (14) and 100 milliwatts. They'd only work for about a block. I was hooked then. My father saw my frustration with them after he'd tell me stories of back when he was stationed in Morocco working the other side of the world with a Heathkit DX-40, a Hammurland receiver, and a knife switch to a long-wire antenna. After he retired from the Air Force, he commuted to school. We set up a 4 watt mobile into a ground plane strapped to the chimney and put an identical mobile rig in his Datsun B210 with a base loaded whip. And then we waited for our CB license to come from the FCC. KCN-6537! Not amazing I still remember that, we used it. We were scared to death of the law back then. Back in the mid-70s, when he took off for school, I'd talk to him until he was out of range. When he came home on Friday's, I'd be at that radio waiting to hear him and talk him in. Range was about 13 miles. It was fun! Back in the 70's, the locals in Louisiana made it difficult because their pleasure was to maliciously interfere with us. Then one day, he came home and showed me the window had been smashed and his CB was gone. At 12 years old, I became frustrated with CB. At 13 I became a ham. After my father saw me get a ham license, he passed his test soon after I did again, after letting his ham license expire years ago. I started off with an "N" in my call sign. Still have that call sign, but I made "extra" back when you had to pass a 20 WPM morse code test. When I was waiting for my "N" call sign, I put together a 6L6 oscillator/transmitter and borrowed an old tube-type receiver. My first few contacts in the novice band of 40 were miraculous to me--100s of miles away!. I was hooked at 13. Soon after, I put together a 6146 transmitter for a few more watts. Wow, I was fascinated. Sure was fun back then. Both my mother and father became nervous when they found out about the exposed plate voltage. I mounted that 6146 on top of the aluminum box so I could see the filiment glow and the plate connector was bare metal. My father finally broke down and bought an Yaesu FT-101. Wow! A radio that put out 180 watts AND a VFO AND all bands AND all MODES! I remember making sure it wasn't putting out more than 75 watts--that would have been breaking the rules. It didn't get any better than that. I still have that radio. Needs new tubes (and of course the modification for the available replacement tubes). I still always travel with channel 19 in the truck. It still works better than a radar detector. Today, I'm frustrated with hams. Back then, my ham friends were techies. It's hard to find a techie on the ham bands now-a-days. Yup, sure was fun back then. It's a new era today. That's my story and I'm sticking to it. :) I miss those days. I enjoyed working with tubes (even if I got shocked by them a few too many times). Radio was cooler, there was less competition from "other" tech devices. The people were cooler, less vulgar, and a lot more fun Dave "Sandbagger" |
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