The Generals of 2005
 

As has been cussed and discussed here and on the air lately, ARRL
has
petitioned FCC to reduce the number of license classes from six
down to
three, namely Novice, General, and Extra.

If you haven't read the entire petition (it runs somewhere around
35 pages,
each page laden with microscopic-print footnotes) you may have
missed the
fact that there will actually be 5 sub-classes of General.

One-Star General - Post 1987 Technician given a complimentary
convenience-of-the-ARRL field promotion to General

Two-Star General - Previous Conditional given humanitarian
promotion to
General

Three-Star General - Pre 1987 Technician given posthumous
promotion to
General

Four-Star General - General who took an actual General
examination in
modern times at a VE session

Five-Star General - General who took an actual General
examination in front
of a steely eyed FCC official in a noisy drafty government office
in
downtown Fargo and had to walk uphill (both ways) through 10-foot
snowdrifts on Good Friday 1954.

73, de Hans, K0HB

"KØHB" wrote in message
ink.net...
As has been cussed and discussed here and on the air lately, ARRL
has
petitioned FCC to reduce the number of license classes from six
down to
three, namely Novice, General, and Extra.

If you haven't read the entire petition (it runs somewhere around
35 pages,
each page laden with microscopic-print footnotes) you may have
missed the
fact that there will actually be 5 sub-classes of General.

I suppose you're going to tell us that Advanced class licensees who get a
free pass to Extra privileges will be called Commodores? : In that case,
those of us who survived the 20-wpm confidence course in an FCC office 30
years ago should be named Secretaries of Defense. Move over, Rummy.

73,

"PM"

"Paul_Morphy" wrote

In that case, those of us who survived the 20-wpm
confidence course in an FCC office 30
years ago should be named Secretaries of Defense.
Move over, Rummy.

30 years ago (that'd be 1974) I had already had to renew my Extra
license, TWICE.

Move over, George

dit dit

I do hope he was kidding about all the "generals". Sounds like a bunch of
bull **** to me. IF that is true, those people are more goofy than I gave
them credit for. I don't see the sense in it.

Lou


"KØHB" wrote in message
ink.net...

"Paul_Morphy" wrote

In that case, those of us who survived the 20-wpm
confidence course in an FCC office 30
years ago should be named Secretaries of Defense.
Move over, Rummy.

30 years ago (that'd be 1974) I had already had to renew my Extra
license, TWICE.

Move over, George

dit dit

"KØHB" wrote in message
ink.net...

"Paul_Morphy" wrote

In that case, those of us who survived the 20-wpm
confidence course in an FCC office 30
years ago should be named Secretaries of Defense.
Move over, Rummy.

30 years ago (that'd be 1974) I had already had to renew my Extra
license, TWICE.

Move over, George

Don't get that long, white beard caught in your straight key, OM. : Yeah,
the definition of "old timer" sure has changed. I just joined OOTC; I figure
QCWA is for kids. I'm 57, but over the weekend, someone at a hamfest
referred to me as a "young man," which was chronologically logical in his
case.

Which points to the aging problem I perceive in ham radio. I'd say 95% of
the people I saw at this hamfest were older than 55. In another 20 years,
FCC will be able to assign 1X1 calls to every ham. All Hiram's horses and
all Hiram's men (and women) can't seem to get enough youngsters interested
to offset the attrition.

73,

"PM" (soon to be W4A)