Bill Sohl wrote:

A whole litany of stuff snipped

I'll have to find that paper and read it.

http://www.qsl.net/al7fs/NCVECplan.doc

I think it is pretty important to read it, Bill. It is a very
interesting piece.

One of the emost interesting parts is that while the NCVEC claims it is
not "official" policy, the name of the doc is NCVECplan.doc.

and:

"First, who is this committee, this “Gang of Four”? Who are these people,
and who elected them as “God”? They are the NCVEC “Rules Committee”.
This group of 4 persons consists of: Fred Maia, W5YI, John Johnstone, W3BE,
Scott Neustatder, W4WW, and myself, Jim Wiley, KL7CC.

So this isn't official, but it comes from the committee, it's namedwhat
it is. But they tell us it isn't...................

Just one of the reasons that a few of us are kind of uneasy about the thing.

It takes a few gratuitous potshots at those who believe in the Morse
Code test, as well as a patricularly bizzare dig at homebrewers.

Oddly enough, it wants to encourage people who do not wear glasses to
join the hobby. That little jab was almost certainly at people who do
not wear bifocals, but as a wearer of glasses since the second grade, I
can tell you it was neither funny or appropriate.

It proposes HF access after taking a 20 question quiz that is passable
by an "average" 6th grader.

It proposes the applicant sign a statement that they have read and
understood part 97 - This is a hoot! I envision a "click here" like we
get when we install software and the terms of use screen pops up. And we
all read all of those, don't we? 8^)

It wants to take out "some of the math" two or more of the theory
questions because "we aren't making engineers - yet"

It offers some questions like:

"What do you think is better for our hobby – lots of enthusiastic
newcomers, or an ever-declining number of increasingly older hams?"

Let's see, that sounds an awful lot like a "Have you quit beating your
wife?" sort of question.

"Morse will probably retain most of it’s exclusive band segments, at
least for now. We are not addressing this issue at this time. This
may change in the future."

I give them half a point for being half honest - whoops, maybe only a
quarter point for being only half right! Just how many "exclusive band
segments" are there for Morse? Which is telling me that as soon as they
have their way with getting the qualifications reduced for HF access,
they will be going after getting the narrowband segments opened up for
SSB. and if that isn't what they mean to do, why would they put that in
the piece?

Their proposal to "slide" the bands down to take over the Novice
segments and give the upper part of the bands to the "communicators"
isn't removing anything from the data bands is it?

Finally, in one of the most strange bits of reasoning I have ever seen:

"All existing Techs will be upgraded to General. Assuming that the
Morse requirement is removed first, our opinion is that most of the
Techs will take (and hopefully pass) the element 3 exam as soon as
they can, thus becoming General class licensees."

They are telling us that the existing technicians will study for, test
for, and pay for something that they will get even if they flunk the
test, or not take it in the first place!!!!!!!!

Someone who make a statement like this has no place throwing out the
gratuitous insults they make towards those who believe that the Morse
tests should be retained. It is plain stupid, can't sugar coat that one!

Some things I wonder about:

Is a person who is granted HF access on a 20 question very simple test
that the hypothetical average 6th grader going to be all that worried
about staying within the allotment given him or here? My guess is that
they will not be too worried about straying outside their allocations.
It happens already with generals in the Extra segments.

Will they be amenable to OO's? some will, and some probably won't. It
won't take too many to make a mess.

If I were to hazard a guess, I suspect if a plan like this is adopted,
there will be a rush of people getting the lowest level license. They
will be on HF, and won't feel much reason to upgrade. They will very
likely spread out from thier allotted segment of band, and talk where
they like.

"You know, fresh ideas, new blood, people that can actually see their
radios without having to put It pon (sic) glasses – what a concept!"

Sometimes fresh ideas are not what we may want them to be!


Will I be wrong? Great Gawd I hope so! But it will be an interesting
social experiment to see if we will improve a service by lowering the
entrance requirements.

In the meantime, I'll be here, wearing my glasses, homebrewing, and
enjoying myself.

My favorite quotes:

"There are no black helicopters."

"This is not a plot by ARRL or Fred (W5YI) or anyone else to sell more
books, antennas, radios, or (fill in the blank)."

"There is no conspiracy, no secret agenda, no kickback from the
manufacturers, no “black plan” from the ARRL, no anything. Just some
guys that want nothing more than to see our great hobby prosper for
the next hundred years, or longer."

Thing one:

Why do they go on so about conspiracies?

Thing two:

With a few notable exceptions, I think that those of us who wish to see
Morse CW testing continued DO care very much about our great hobby. I
take exception to the apparent belief on some NCTA's that we do not.

Final analysis:

If this isn't NCVEC opinion, they should get it off the title and quit
referring to it so much. This is like the person that says "not to
interrupt you as they interrupt you. If it isn't the NCVEC, then don't
talk about the NCVEC. But it is.

What's with the gratuitous potshots? Want to turn people off? Start
accusing us of seeing black helicopters or needing "It pon glasses" as
if it is something bad to wear them (maybe we're genetically inferior?)
Or even better, infer that the only people who care about Ham Radio are
those who want the code test removed.

This is a bold step, to improve something by radically simplifying the
requirements for admission. I haven't seen it work yet, but perhaps
there is something different here?

- Mike KB3EIA -