"N2EY" wrote:

Then SSB, AM, FM, RTTY, PSK-31, etc.
are all non-necessities. (snip)


Absolutely. Which is exactly why there is no test of the actual ability to
use those modes - only a written test covering the fundamentals of those
modes and the rules associated with them. Morse code should join those modes
in that regard.


In fact, except for the most basic of rules
and regulations, your argument leads to the
inescapable conclusion that it is not necessary
for the goals and purposes of the Amateur
Radio Service at this point to mandate *any*
learning through a testing requirement.

Can you prove otherwise?


What is there to prove? Isn't that exactly the intent of the license
exams - the fundamentals of radio and electronics, safety, rules and
regulations, and so on. When it comes to Amateur Radio, the FCC is not a
school and nobody graduates with a degree in radio or electronics when
they're handed a ham license. That license exams (and licenses) are simply
entrances into the various levels of Amateur Radio - the real learning comes
with what is done afterwards (operating, building, experimenting, reading,
practice, and the resulting experence from any or all of that). The FCC has
never has never purported, or even suggested, that the Amateur Radio exams,
and resulting licenses, are anything beyond that (only a few self-important
hams have done so).


Dwight Stewart (W5NET)

http://www.qsl.net/w5net/