Jim,

I found my old 2nd class commercial telegraph ticket. Would that support
the no medical waivers? Of course, does that prove I could still do 20
words per minute (which is the question you have been asking; good question
indeed). Gad, I've got but about two weeks and my license expires. Now to
go search the FCC website ...


73 from Rochester, NY
Jim AA2QA


"N2EY" wrote in message
...
In article , "D. Stussy"
writes:

On Sun, 31 Aug 2003, N2EY wrote:
In article ,
(Jason Hsu) writes:

I found this comment on eham.net:
"I hold the OLD ADVANCED license and it is a matter of prestidge. I
had to have 13 wpm to get to this level and now they want to do away
with ALL CW? Keep at least the 5 wpm.
It is too easy to pass a written exam. The code kept the CB crowd from
gaining acess to our bands. "

The fact of the matter is that simply having an Advanced is not proof
of
code
speed. Since 1990, medical waivers were available for 13 and 20 wpm.

Although true, the fact of a waiver is in the FCC's database (there's a
field
for it).

True - but you have to dig up the database and know what to look for. The
license itself doesn't show waiver status, IIRC.

As an excuse not to upgrade to extra, it's probably one of the
lamest ideas around.

Agreed!

Upon upgrade, one will still have the "prior class held" field
that will say advanced, so with the combination of these two data fields,
we
will know that a person once held an advanced class license WITHOUT the
medical
waiver and thus officially passed the 13wpm code element.

Not in all cases. Look me up in the data base - no entry for "former
license
class", even though I was Advanced from 1968 to 1970 (old 2 year waiting
period)


[Whether or not
the
person actually took the test or just paid for his license will generally
never
be known!]

"just paid for his license"?

To me, the statement is more typical of some advanced class sourpuss who
failed
to take advantage of the transitional rule back in 2000 and obtain credit
for
the easier element 4B than the current element 4. Granted that was only
for
a
3.5 month window...

Maybe. But I think current Element 4 is no harder than old Element 4B.

What surprises me is this: There are still some people (the August 30
session
I did had two such people) who are coming in for their pre-87-tech to
general
no test upgrades, 3+ years after the rules change went into effect....

I'm not surprised. Many hams I know do not follow the rules changes
anywhere
near as closely as some of us do. Look at restructuring - out of over
678,000
hams, FCC got 2200 or so comments.

Some folks are just finding out what the changes mean. And with 10 year
renewals, folks who don't move around have very little interaction with
FCC
license procedures. The facts are often twisted in the retelling, too.
Look at
the misunderstanding about Element 1 and Technicians....

Is this for real? Are there REALLY people with Advanced licenses who
refuse to upgrade to Amateur Extra SIMPLY because they feel the need
to prove they passed the 13 wpm exam?

There are some misguided folks who think that, but in fact it's not a
proof
of
code speed any more than my Extra is proof of 20 per.

When it is known that a medical waiver wasn't used, it is (for pre April
19,
2000 extras).

But you need more info that just the fact that the person holds a certain
license class.


I know it's a free country, and
there are also many Advanced licensees who decide that the extra
privileges aren't worth going to the trouble of studying up and going
to the VE session, but I find this hard to believe.

If somebody wants to know my code skills and technical knowledge, I
don't
point
to a license test I took in 1970. Instead, I just show 'em.

Anyone who thinks Morse Code is that important should try OPERATING
high-speed Morse Code and participate in Morse Code contests.

We do! 13 wpm isn't high speed, tho.

All the
Advanced license proves is that you passed 13 wpm and the other exam
requirements years ago.

Not even that. Medical waivers, etc.

...


Fun fact:

From May 14 2000 to July 31, 2003, the number of Advanceds dropped from
99,782 to 83,141. That includes upgrades to Extra and dropouts. Only a 17%
decline in over three years.

73 de Jim, N2EY


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