From: Mike Coslo on Fri, Jan 19 2007 4:27 pm

wrote in news:1169250071.314393.175910
KC4UAI wrote:

Time to end the debate I suppose...

Looks like the FCC will make it official on February 23 of this year
and go along with the rest of the world. Code testing will no longer
be required for ANY class license it seems after that date.

Does that mean the Report and Order will be published in the Federal
Register before January 24?

[does that mean Miccolis can't understand what the ARRL
wrote on its web page? :-)]


Yes, it's sad to see the standards being lowered again and again. Not
just the code test, either.

[quick, someone put up a sign saying "wet floor"...a
bunch of morsemen spilled their cask of sour grape mash!]

Hi Jim,

Are you saying that the standards for, say the late 1950's were
higher than thay are now?

Did you read my posts with the excerpts from the 1956 Ameco study
guide and sample F.C.C. tests? Perhaps my assessment of the tests as
indeed not being more difficult is inaccurate in your opinion?

In addition, imagine my surprise when I opened up that little
booklet and saw the "sample questions" Right there, Question first, and
answer "A" through "D". Then an answer section in the back of the book!
All this in 1956, long before Bash and the present day question pool...

After all, how may ways are there to ask the same questions?

Hello Mike.

Sigh...it's an old, old story with humans...whatever
someone did in their (relative) youth was ALWAYS "more
difficult" than what anyone else does in the present time! :-)

I've heard that song played over and over again for as long
as I've been an adult. The lyrics might change a bit from
decade to decade but the tune is the same. :-)

All these olde-tymers walked (uphill both ways) barefoot
through the snow to take Their FCC exams. :-)

Funny you should mention 1956. It's a clear time in my
life experience. In the summer of 1956 I was at H&H
Electronics in Rockford, IL, talking to Gene Hubbel, then
a W9, later W7DI (now SK). H&H had just gotten in some
new study guides. Can't remember the publisher but I
categorized all such as "Q&A" books. Must have been at
least three different publishers around that time. I
looked through a couple of them (always a nice "feel" to
a brand new book out of the carton). An "in-your-face"
customer asked me if I was going to take a test? I
replied, "already did it in March" and pulled out my
small First 'Phone ID card. Sneering he then asked
"which [Q&A book] did I use?" I said "None" and,
disbelieving, he was about to get physical over that!
[really, some folks wander around always looking for a
fight] Gene distracted him before the small store got
torn up. [not a big problem for me to handle physical
stuff since I had been released from active Army duty in
February] I had never used any Q&A book earlier that
year because no store in town had them...had to settle
for memorizing a borrowed copy of the FCC regs then
published in loose-leaf format. Hard work, that, but
it got done, I passed my First 'Phone but never "aced"
it. Passing was good enough for me then. Didn't walk
uphill both ways to Chicago, just rode the train 90
miles (shoes always on feet) to get there. shrug

I looked in here nearly a decade ago and there were
the "in-your-face" yahoos tawkin 'bout how HARD it
was for them...in the 60s...in the 70s...etc. :-)
The really rabid ones were going on about "the GROL
ain't hard, not like the AMATEUR EXTRA!!!" :-)
They apparently were too young to remember that a
GROL didn't get created until around 1980 or so. It
eventually became a lifetime thing, no renewals
necessary. Wasn't so in 1956 when a First 'Phone
took at least two hours to complete four different
test parts, only one of which was multiple-choice.

I too am a sad to see Morse code testing go away, espcially from a
historical view, but I fear that some of the superior attitudes, and
sometimes outright misrepresentation put forward by some hams regarding
how much better a vetting process the old old system was is going to be
a greater threat to the ARS than any code test elimination ever was.

I really can't understand WHY some "vetting" process
was needed. A hobby is an avocation, NOT an occupation.
Survival of amateur radio never did depend on "how well
anyone sent code" nor was the country in danger if some
sent it badly...neither was it more secure if some
could send it "perfectly."

I've always regarded amateur radio as a FUN HOBBY. So
many enjoy it. But, some take almost a perverse attitude
in trying to "run it" according to Their standards...even
personal desires. Nobody vetted Them as "bosses" but
they strut around acting like bosses. Amateur radio is
NOT an occupation, guild, craft, or something absolutely
vital to national security. It is a HOBBY but some take
it wayyyyy too seriously.

Part of the problem of this nostalgia thing about "how
the older testing system 'worked so well'" lies with all
the 50- and 60- somethings suddenly facing their own
mortality. [we are ALL going to die, no exceptions,
its in our designer genes] The "old" ways are a form
of comfort, of security. They've survived them. They
are comfortable with what they have but don't want to
remember the struggle they had to reach to reach that
pinnacle of their claimed knowledge and experience.
Running around with a self-made (unofficial) "boss"
title is NOT going to help the hobby, regardless of
how good it makes Them feel.

The way I see it, the "threat" to the hobby that some
cry and cry about is just a personal threat to the
crier. They will LOSE their reference points for being
"better" than others. TS. Federal laws and regulations
aren't done to "better" the lives of minority hobbyists.
Federal laws and regulations apply to ALL citizens.

Hey, "change happens!" :-)