Dee Flint wrote:
wrote in message
ups.com...
Slow Code wrote:

Could you pass all the tests again today, or would you have to study a
little first?

I could pass them all again, no study needed. And that goes for
written, Morse Code receiving and Morse Code sending.

Bring out any FCC amateur radio license test from Novice to Extra, from
any time since I first got my license in 1967, and I'll pass it. I'll
probably even be able to pass tests from long before I was licensed,
too.

Every so often I try an online practice exam, just to be sure. No
problem.

BUT

I don't see any reason to require routine retesting of hams who haven't
broken the rules. FCC trusts us to keep current - that's part of the
"conditions of grant".

FCC currently uses retesting as a sort of enforcement tool - if someone
acts like they don't know what the rules are, or if there is some doubt
as to whether a test session was on the up-and-up, FCC will sometimes
require a specific retest.

If you demand that all hams be retested, what you're telling FCC is
that we cannot be trusted to keep up with the rules. Is that a good
thing?

FCC doesn't require routine retesting of commercial licenses - why
should they require it of amateurs?

And once again: Are *you* willing to volunteer your time to help with
the restesting?

73 de Jim, N2EY



Very well stated, Jim. I particularly like the parts about the FCC's usage
of the "retest" and the paragraph on "trust".


Dee D. Flint, N8UZE

Thanks, Dee.

One more point:

The only nonrenewable amateur license the USA ever had was the old
Novice license. And it was only nonrenewable for about the first half
of its existence (1951 to 1975).

The reason the old Novice was nonrenewable back then is that it wasn't
meant to be a "permanent" license, but rather only a stepping stone to
a permanent license.

All the currently-available license classes are meant to be "permanent"
licenses - meaning they aren't only a stepping stone to a higher class.

Perhaps it could all be summed up in the old saying:

"Be careful what you ask for - you might get it!"

73 de Jim, N2EY