The Magnum wrote:


Most UK Amateurs are horrified that their airspace is being
invaded by these "CB type lowlife" (their words not mine) which suprises me
as i firmly believe anyone gaining their M3 licence would go on to
Intermediate... etc not stop there

Yes, one would think so. That is what our Novice license was for, an
entry type of license, nothing real hard on the test, only 5wpm for
code, limited power and not all frequency privileges.

so i cant see why the "old hams" arent
encoraging them rather than belittling them.

It seems that is often the position taken not by just 'old hams' today,
but by some of those who do upgrade. Kinda like how as a freshman in
high-school you were looked down on by upper-classmen. It didn't use to
be that way. When I had my Novice ticket, I probably worked more General
and higher class licensees on the Novice bands because they would come
to the Novice frequencies and work us, sending code slowly and carefully
to encourage us to get proficient enough to upgrade. Amateur radio used
to be very gentlemanly, still is for the most part but seems amateur
radio has begun to reflect much of today's rude society.