Alun wrote:

a litany snipped so I can concentrate on your post!

I have said as much before, but a real overhaul of licencing will probably
require all new grades of licence with all new names and all new test
elements. Having read the mail on this proposal, I am convinced that this
is the only way to remove the perception of free upgrades. It is only a
perception really, as after you change things the same name no longer
really means the same thing anyway.

A wise man once told me that without proof to the contrary, perception
becomes truth.


Just for a laugh, let's call the new licences Entry, Average and Superior,
just for the sake of this discussion. The Entry licence could have a low
power restriction and limit HF operation to a few specific subbands. The
Average licence would give everything else, except, say, a short callsign,
which would be reserved for the Superior hams, whilst those of us who know
we really are superior could keep the calls we have, ROTFL!

Of course, there would have to be rules to determine what class of licence
we all end up with. Advanced or Extra would get a Superior licence,
Generals would get an Average licence, and Novices would get an Entry
licence. There would be, say 18 months notice of this coming into effect,
and 12 months experience as a Tech would be required to get an Average
licence, Techs licenced for less than 12 months getting an Entry licence
(which would give them something like Tech+ privileges anyway, but would
probably be a reduction in power). Element 1 would, of course, be abolished
next Tuesday!

Have fun replying!


My proposal would be to keep Technician, General, and Extra.

Technician would be the entry level license, and would have the same
access as today. This would be the license that allows people to get
their feet wet in Ham radio. VHF and up access allows those that only
want repeater access their hobby, and the 6 meter access gives a taste
of the wide world below.

Tech plus has same privileges as now. Grandfathered in

Testing would be at the same level. Lots of RF safety. No one should
have ANY form of Ham license without being well versed in RF Safety.

General has all the access and privileges as they do now.

Testing would be at the same level, but the tests would have more
questions geared towards HF operation. I would add more questions
overall (how many here equate more questions with "harder"?)

Advanced has same privileges as now. Grandfathered in.

Extra has all the access and privileges as they do now.

Test would be similar to what is done now, but will cover more of the
Electronic area of the hobby.

No code test for any of the licenses.

Novice segments will become part of a band plan for those who want to
learn Morse code.


Finally, I would like to address those who wish to "fix" the system.

No proposal fixes the system!!!

Fixing the system would not involve three license classes. Fixing the
system would have only one license class, especially since with the end
of Morse code testing, there is no reason why the applicant could not
study for and take one element that consists of the agreed upon test
material.

But that will never go over, so IMO, the only alternative is to make an
incremental change in the system that we already have that does not
remove privileges, and does not give free upgrades that create more
problems tan they solve.

There ya go! The only real changes are to the testing regimen. No one
loses, no one gains.

- Mike KB3EIA -