Vinnie S. wrote:

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.

Why should people who *want* to use it have to test for it?