My group is already working to make sure that the new folks don't
feel shunned, and in recognition that many of the new folks will be
inexperienced as compared to years past, we plan on some pretty
extensive Elmering. It should be great fun.


A similar situation happened back in the Spring of 2000, when 5WPM
coders could become generals and extras. Lots of new hams on the HF
phone bands. I was one of 'em. Aside from a few various newbie errors,
we learned pretty quickly. I would expect the same to be true of the no
code hams who become generals and extras in the spring of 2007.

"Mike Coslo" wrote in message
36...
wrote in
oups.com:

On Feb 1, 12:49�pm, Dave Heil wrote:
wrote:
On Jan 31, 11:03?pm, "Carl R. Stevenson" wrote:
Information from within ARRL indicates that last year the ARRL
VECs, w
hose
teams handle over 70% ov al VE sessions, per their claim (which I
am n
ot
confirming nor disputing), performed over 5,000 VE sessions (with
each session handling multiple applicants/testees).

According to the report, the average session was 5-10
applicants/teste
es ...
(25-50k testees)

"Reservations" have now jumped to 50-75/session!!!

That's excellent!
It appears that no-code WILL result in significant growth. (as I
predi
cted)

Well, maybe.

W3GEG told me that this past week's VE session in Morgantown resulted
in five fellows who took and passed Morse Code exams in obtaining
their new licenses. I seem to recall that you'd commented some time
ago that some people might want to take such an exam before the
elimination of Morse testing.

Yep, that's right.

In fact Carl, WK3C, was a major contributor to a local radio club
prize for the *last* person in the club to pass Element 1.
(See his earlier posting at the start of a different thread for
details.)

---

Hopefully, the upcoming changes to the license requirements will
result in a new era of long-term growth in amateur radio, as has been
repeatedly predicted and promised by many of those in favor of the
changes.

But what if it doesn't?

A question might be "what are you going to do to insure that it doesn't?
(Not you specifically)

My group is already working to make sure that the new folks don't
feel shunned, and in recognition that many of the new folks will be
inexperienced as compared to years past, we plan on some pretty
extensive Elmering. It should be great fun.

One possible fly in the ointment is that just as there are Hams who
wouldn't upgrade to Extra because their advanced license proved they
took a higher speed code test, there are some who will probably do all
they can to have their dire predictions be a self fulfilling prophecy.

- 73 de Mike KB3EIA -

Not really. I was advanced, thus proving 13 wpm, and I upgraded to extra
last year to a 5 wpm call sign. All you need to do is keep your old call
sign if you want to prove you passed a higher speed. I would like to see a
special format of vanity call signs that require you to have an ARRL
certificate of proficiency for 20 wpm, which is quite a good achievement.
Like all vanity signs, you would have to pay and it would not give you any
special priviledges. It might be useful for reciprocal licenses in certain
countries like China (pop. 1.2 billion) that still require code.

wrote:
But what if it doesn't?

Ham radio still has a lot to offer but not
nearly as much as it once did. What can we
do to make it more attractive?
--
73, Cecil, http://www.qsl.net/w5dxp

On Feb 2, 7:10?am, Cecil Moore wrote:
wrote:
But what if it doesn't?

Ham radio still has a lot to offer but not
nearly as much as it once did. What can we
do to make it more attractive?
--
73, Cecil,http://www.qsl.net/w5dxp

Sell diet plans and make-up kits at hamfests? :-)

Get Jenny Craig to sponsor a ham gathering?

LA

"Cecil Moore" wrote in message
.. .
wrote:
But what if it doesn't?

Ham radio still has a lot to offer but not
nearly as much as it once did. What can we
do to make it more attractive?

Very good question. In future centuries it may become very popular again in
some form if we ever colonize planets or moons in our solar system. However,
not being there yet, I sure would like to improve our situation on this
planet, especially during sunspot minima. It would REALLY be helpful if we
could have a full 40m band that is free of commerical broadcasting
interference...that would be a significant improvement.

Also, the ability to communicate on a full 60 m band at full power would
help.

A decent chunk of 30m with voice would be very helpful.

Much of the segments I mentioned are not used that much anymore by the
commericals and it is going to waste.

75-80m and 160m are great at certain times except that, although they tend
to favor the rural demographic, they are uselss to the younger people who
tend to live in the cities and suburbs.

I think the spectrum provided to us is basically unusable much of the time
(with the exception of 20m).

We are told to use the bands or lose them but much of what we have cannot be
used, reliably, much of the time.

On Feb 2, 10:10?am, Cecil Moore wrote:
wrote:
But what if it doesn't?

Ham radio still has a lot to offer but not
nearly as much as it once did.

What does amateur radio not offer now that it once did?

It seems to me that amateur radio today offers even more than it did
when I first got started 40 years ago.

For example, in 1967:

- Almost all HF/MF amateur operation was CW, SSB voice, or AM voice.
There was some SSTV and 45.45 baud Baudot RTTY, but those modes
required a considerable amount of additional equipment that was bulky,
complex, and expensive.

- Almost all VHF/UHF amateur operation was AM voice or CW. There was
some SSB voice, some FM voice, some RC, some RTTY and some ATV. RTTY
and ATV required a considerable amount of additional equipment that
was bulky, complex, and expensive. There were only a few repeaters on
the amateur bands, and amateur satellite communications was only a few
years old (OSCAR 1 was launched in 1961).

- 30, 17 and 12 meters weren't ham bands. 160 was full of LORAN, and
amateur use of 160 was severely restricted.

- Adjusted for inflation, most new ham gear was much more expensive
then than it is now. Look up the price of, say, a Swan 350 and power
supply, or a Drake 4 line, and then adjust the prices for inflation.

- Computers had almost no presence in amateur radio. A few people with
connections, usually at universities, did neat things like very early
forms of computer logging and circuit simulation, but that was the
exception.

- Most not-in-person communication between amateurs was by the ham
bands, the telephone, the US mail and publications. There were no
websites full of free-for-the-download information, no eBay or online
sellers, no email, etc. Elmering was limited to the hams in your area,
the ones you could find on the air, and possibly a few by-mail.

- The only permitted digital mode was 45.45 baud RTTY using the 5
level Baudot code. It would be a decade more before any other digital
modes were allowed for US hams.

The list goes on and on. Many of the things that are commonplace in
amateur radio today were far in the future back then. Many other
things in amateur radio were far more expensive and difficult in those
days than they are today.

It seems to me that a ham today can do almost everything that a ham
could do in 1967.

What can we
do to make it more attractive?

I think the major thing to do is to simply portray all the things
amateurs are doing - today, in 2007 - to as wide an audience as
possible. Then let people decide what they are interested in.

For example, don't assume that today's young people will only be
interested in how to use a computer with a radio, or that older folks
aren't going to be interested in new technology.

Just show the "Ham's Wide World" of 2007, and let the folks who are
interested decide what they like about it.

73 de Jim, N2EY

"Carl R. Stevenson" wrote in message
...
Information from within ARRL indicates that last year the ARRL VECs, whose
teams handle over 70% ov al VE sessions, per their claim (which I am not
confirming nor disputing), performed over 5,000 VE sessions (with each
session handling multiple applicants/testees).

According to the report, the average session was 5-10 applicants/testees
... (25-50k testees)

"Reservations" have now jumped to 50-75/session!!!


Is that NEW applicants or merely upgraders. I've had no increase in new
applicants making reservations but a significant increase in upgraders.

Also it is too soon to determine if this is simply a short term phenomenon
or will it sustain itself.

By the way would you care to enter a guess in my pool as to the percent
increase in amateur numbers in one year beginning from the date of the
implementation? Here are the rules and the current pool of guesses.

Rules:

1) Predict amount of change in ARS numbers between the IMPLEMENTATION
date of the R&O for elimination of code testing and one year from that date.
2) Calculation of the number of licenses will be done by N2EY under the
same principals that he uses now to calculate the number of licenses.
3) You must select whole numbers for your percentage.
4) You may select positive or negative percentages.
5) You may select a range but that range may not exceed a total of 4%.
Note that your average will be used to determine who is closest. If the
actual change is outside the range of everyone's guesses then the person
whose limit is closest will be the winner.
6) You must submit your guess no later than six months after the
IMPLEMENTATION date of the R&O.

Anyone else? Note if your guess doesn't show up on the list within a
week, it may mean that my ISP is blocking it or that you are on my
blocked senders list. You may still participate but you will have to have
your guess submitted by someone who is not blocked.

Guesses submitted:

N8UZE: 1% less to 1% more
N2EY: 1% more to 2% more
KH6HZ: 1% less to 0% change
N3KIP: 2% more to 6% more
KH6O: 6% more to 10% more
KK6J: 12% more to 14% more
KC2HMZ: 5% more --- Added 12/31/06

Dee, N8UZE

"Carl R. Stevenson" wrote in message
...
Information from within ARRL indicates that last year the ARRL VECs, whose
teams handle over 70% ov al VE sessions, per their claim (which I am not
confirming nor disputing), performed over 5,000 VE sessions (with each
session handling multiple applicants/testees).

According to the report, the average session was 5-10 applicants/testees
... (25-50k testees)

"Reservations" have now jumped to 50-75/session!!!

It appears that no-code WILL result in significant growth. (as I
predicted)

While some who want to keep our bands "to themselves" (at least until
they're reallocated for lack of/diminishing use) will bemoan this, I am
elated!

From what I've seen, the ARRL BoD is "Getting It" about the need to
welcome new hams and strongly discourage any berating/insulting/bad
treatment of them just because they didn't have to take a Morse test.
BRAVO!

I hope that ALL hams will "get with the program" and act like decent human
beings/Elmers towards the impending, apparently significant influx of
newcomers.

Treat them right and they will assimilate - treat the crappy and you'll
regret it in the long run.

73,
Carl - wk3c



comittee dear me does he wish his efforts to fail



--
Posted via a free Usenet account from http://www.teranews.com

On Jan 31, 11:03 pm, "Carl R. Stevenson" wrote:
Information from within ARRL indicates that last year the ARRL VECs, whose
teams handle over 70% ov al VE sessions, per their claim (which I am not
confirming nor disputing), performed over 5,000 VE sessions (with each
session handling multiple applicants/testees).

According to the report, the average session was 5-10 applicants/testees ...
(25-50k testees)

"Reservations" have now jumped to 50-75/session!!!

It appears that no-code WILL result in significant growth. (as I predicted)

Carl 'ole bean you're making some some very dicey assumptions and
extrapolations here. What evidence do you have which indicates that
this latest lurch will result in anything beyond just another bubble
of upgrades a la 1991 and 2000?

The simple fact of the matter is that we're into a very mature
avocation based on an ancient basic technology which lost it's sex
appeal in the general population years ago. I agree with others in
this thread, we'll be lucky to regain the 18,000 the hobby has already
lost since the head count peaked.

I do hope you're prepared to eat some crow if your predictions don't
come true.

While some who want to keep our bands "to themselves" (at least until
they're reallocated for lack of/diminishing use)

As you well know the HF ham bands are not under any threats, they're
not going anywhere for a very long time.

It'll be interesting to see if the upgraders actually generate a
noticeable increase in HF band activity levels. Techs have been able
to become licensed without a code test for 15 years, they spend say
spend $175 for a 2M FM rig and a few bucks for a little easy-up 2M
antenna and they're on the air. Which is good and now they can upgrade
to nocode Generals and Extras. And oops, they run into the much higher
costs of HF equipment and all the hassles related to putting up HF
antennas.

If they weren't previously interested enough in ham radio to do the
work required to pass the 5WPM code test will they now be interested
enough in ham radio to spend the bigger bucks and get HF antennas up
in the new regime?

will bemoan this, I am
elated!

From what I've seen, the ARRL BoD is "Getting It" about the need to welcome
new hams and strongly discourage any berating/insulting/bad treatment of
them just because they didn't have to take a Morse test. BRAVO!

When was the last time anybody paid any attention to the ARRL's
unending stream of admonitions about playing nice? 1928?

I hope that ALL hams will "get with the program" and act like decent human
beings/Elmers towards the impending, apparently significant influx of
newcomers.

Treat them right and they will assimilate - treat the crappy and you'll
regret it in the long run.

This whole topic area is worn out overblown nonsense. There are
600,000 licensed hams in the U.S. with maybe 150,000-200,000 actually
active. Of this group there are some misfits, maladroits and nutcases
whose influence on the welfare of the hobby has been hugely overrated.
This BS is nothing more than an excuse, a copout, a handy rationale of
covenience which blames the lack of growth of the hobby on these anti-
social types.

I don't believe for one minute that their behavior has any really
measurable impact on the growth - or lack of growth of the total head
count. Bits and pieces of anti-social behavior are everywhere we go,
out on the streets, at meetings, in this NG, on the job and yes on the
ham bands too. That's life and we deal with it in other sectors
without whining about it like too many do when ham radio is involved.
Adapt or find another hobby because thee, the ARRL and I are not
going to "fix" them.

As far as elmering and "assimilation" of newbies is concerned one of
the first points I'd make to a newbie is to simply spin the big knob
in the panel and go somewhere else when they run into a jerk. How
difficult is that?? And by the way Carl the volume of misbehavior in
the hobby today is no worse than it was a half century ago. Back when
ham radio grew every year . . .


73,
Carl - wk3c

w3rv