"Mike Coslo" wrote:

PStU has a credit course - EE 010S.

None of the area colleges do it -- that is, give instant credit because you
have a ham license. Like I previously stated, though, I believe some (if not
most) would allow you to petition for credit on the basis of 'life
experience', and you probably would have a relative degree of success.


If I may, I can't help but notice that the olde time hams must have
been born knowing all about HF or something. Look at the Extra test, and
tell me that you will take a random group from off the street, set them
down, and say 80 percent will pass the test? I think I'm pretty generous
giving you a 20 percent spot from "anyone" to 80 percent.

I doubt if you take anyone off the street at random they could pass any
element test. However, study materials are easily obtained and, IMO,
virtually anyone can pass with a minimal amount of effort put into studying
them.


That will not change until that inactive groupp of Technicians is
flushed from the rolls. They have not been active since cell phones
became ascendent. The Honeydo list is handled quite nicely by that
technology.


Amateur radio is a dead hobby.

No, it isn't, and won't be dying either. Perhaps your definition of
Ham Radio is fading away - a definition that I would guess where rank is
measured by how fast a person can send and recieve Morse code.

In the mid 90's when I routinely posted to this newsgroup, I made many
observations that I felt the number of licensed hams was being artifically
increased due to the extension of the licensing term from 5 to 10 years.
Likewise, I made comments regarding the attrition rate of licensees
resulting from the Tech license.

Starting in early '03, almost 12 years to the month the Tech license came on
the scene (10 year license term + 2 year grace period), the number of
licensed hams has steadily declined. This negative slope has continued,
relatively unabated, for the past 3 years. I do not expect it to reverse the
trend ever again. The best that may happen is there may be some form of
equilibrum achieved where the number of licensed hams remains constant +/- a
few thousand as expirations and new licensees fluctuate.


Ham radio was a common staple in the household 50 years ago?

No, radio. Radio was the "tech" of the '50s. Today, that "tech" takes other
forms: computers, cell phones, etc.


If you think that Ham radio is an analog of cell phones and chat
rooms and webcams, you're not getting it, and affecionados of those
sports aren't at all likely to be interested in the ARS.

What draws people to amateur radio? The technical aspect, or the utility
aspect?

It is my opinion that over the past 2 decades, the utility aspect of ham
radio has been the main drawing point, not the tech aspect. I think the tech
aspect of ham radio started to die out in the mid 80's when PCs started to
hit the scene. Radio may have been the focus of future EE's interests 40
years ago, but kids I grew up with were making breadboards for their
Apple ]['s.


Hate, Hate, Hate.

My operating time is minimal these days (too many other obligations), but I
try to get online at least one Saturday or Sunday a month. I simply do not
run across these same people that you do. I have many pleasant conversations
with both young (and new) hams around the country.


I had hoped that the new system was going to be one in which an Op
had to have some time in the saddle before upgrading, so as to get
valuable experience, or at least have the chance to get it. FWIW, I had
hoped that they retained the code test. But it isn't that way, so that
means that there will be a lot of new folks with HF access who will need
a lot of Elmering.

I did not submit any comments on this licensing change, because, frankly,
amateur radio is such a small part of my life these days that I could be
bothered (didn't even realize. Had I made comments, I would have reiterated
the comments I made in my 2000 NRPM filing, which called for 2 license
classes -- a class a and class b license, one for privs above 30mhz and one
for privs below.

It was my opinion in 2000, as it still is today, that the theory
examinations should test actual knowledge, and not rote memorization skills.
I supported the removal of element 1a in 2000, and I would support it again
today -- as long as their is a corresponding upgrade of the theory question
pools.


It will actually be a very exciting time, I'm hoping to get some
new folk as excited about the hobby as I am.

None of the EE/CS students I work with are interested in ham radio at all.
The radio interests they have tend to focus in the consumer fields (like
cell phones) rather than, say, Marine HF or EPIRB systems. Radio simply
isn't "sexy" any longer.