In article . net, "Dan/W4NTI"
w4nti@get rid of this mindspring.com writes:

But, I'll bet, if you think about it.....it made you a better operator. It
was a SKILL you HAD TO LEARN in order to StAY ON THE AIR? Think about it.

'zactly. No other option. The Novice was not supposed to be a permanent
license. That's why it had so few privileges and was so focused,

And the old Novice had another feature - it was a one-time one year license
until 1967, when it became two years. Which meant that you either upgraded
before the license ran out or you were off the air. The Novice year/2 years was
a big learning time. Lotta incentive!

In fact, one of the reasons FCC gave us incentive licensing was that they
perceived a drop off in learning after the Novice year.

Most sensible newbies in those times had at least a receiver and antenna set up
and working before they went for the Novice exam. They'd spent serious time
listening to hams on the air before ever taking a test. They knew which bands
were best at various times of day and year simply from observation. They
developed a lot of operating skills and knowledge of operating practices before
ever getting a transmitter.

When the Novice became 5 year renewable, that incentive went away.

We're not going to get the mfrs. to stop making IC-706s and start making S-40s,
so what's the solution?

73 de Jim, N2EY