"N2EY" wrote:

The written tests which are made from
those questions are a govenrment
requirement.


However, we were discussing the government requirement, not test
questions.


Because we have not seen any significant
changes to the technology used by hams
in all that time that came from hams who
aren't code tested.


Of course not. Radio is a mature technology, so you're not likely to see
"significant" changes in the future. But that doesn't suggest for a moment
that there are no contributions at all being made. With several hundred
thousand hams out there, neither of us are likely to know what contributions
are being made.


But with all due respect, Dwight - how
"technically inclined" are you? Build any
homebrew rigs? Any new modes or
technologies? Any technical articles in
amateur radio publications?


Are these what determines who is technically inclined? If so, I doubt 99%
of the operators today, in any license class, could be described that way. I
use modern radio equipment, far beyond what could be built easily at home.
New modes were rare even before any changes to the code tests and may be
even more rare in the future. And new technologies will obviously be small
in a mature industry. As for my own activities, I'll refrain beyond saying
I've built some lessor equipment at home, written some articles, and helped
to establish policies for the use of amateur equipment within a national
organization.


Dwight Stewart (W5NET)

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