On Sat, 11 Jun 2005 11:45:07 -0400, Scott in Baltimore
wrote:

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.

How do hams become techies when all they have to do is memorize some
answers to a preprinted test? I'm for making it an essay/fill-in-the-blank
test. Drop the code. Don't do away with code-only portions of the band.

I used the answers in the book method. I learned quite a bit just from that. Now
that I passed the tests, I will get the standard ARRL tech and general books,
before I go on the air.

I think the problem with essay, it time and age. I studied for a month, almost
every night. Having no kids, that wasn't a problem. Get a kid or 2, and you will
have a harder time. Also, it seems the youth are so preoccupied with the Net,
IPODs and cell phones, making the tested harder is not going to get any new
members. Most of the hams I talked to want to get more young people interested
in ham, because it appears to be on it's way out with that age group.

Code shouldn't be forced on you, but it shouldn't be brushed away.


Code is a complete waste. I studied for a month, passed the test, and already
have forgotten the letters. What they should do if make it optional for code
users. Give a real test, and give out licenses for code users. IOW, those who
want to use it, test for it.

Vinnie S.