ARRL comes up with a new idea.

http://www.arrl.org/news/stories/2004/01/19/1/?nc=1

No code Techs get free upgrade to General.

Newbies get 100W on HF phone via 25 multiple-guess test.

CW (5 WPM) only required for Extra Class.

CW/data sub bands shrink.

Still too hard? Hey, just wait another year. They'll make it even easier.

Art Harris, N2AH
Extra Class since 1971

Harris wrote in news:cLXOb.5393
:

ARRL comes up with a new idea.

http://www.arrl.org/news/stories/2004/01/19/1/?nc=1

No code Techs get free upgrade to General.

Newbies get 100W on HF phone via 25 multiple-guess test.

CW (5 WPM) only required for Extra Class.

CW/data sub bands shrink.

Still too hard? Hey, just wait another year. They'll make it even easier.

Art Harris, N2AH
Extra Class since 1971


Sounds awful. Luckily, I think the FCC will just abolish Element 1, tidy up
a few loose ends, and leave it at that. Not a perfect licence system, but
better than the league's version.

On 19 Jan 2004 21:17:49 GMT, Alun wrote:

Harris wrote in news:cLXOb.5393
:

ARRL comes up with a new idea.

http://www.arrl.org/news/stories/2004/01/19/1/?nc=1

No code Techs get free upgrade to General.

Newbies get 100W on HF phone via 25 multiple-guess test.

CW (5 WPM) only required for Extra Class.

CW/data sub bands shrink.

Still too hard? Hey, just wait another year. They'll make it even easier.

Art Harris, N2AH
Extra Class since 1971


Sounds awful. Luckily, I think the FCC will just abolish Element 1, tidy up
a few loose ends, and leave it at that. Not a perfect licence system, but
better than the league's version.

That makes more sense to me, Alun - I don't see why the ARRL would
propose moving almost 400,000 people to a higher licence class just
because the ITU made morse code testing optional.

73, Leo

Leo wrote:

That makes more sense to me, Alun - I don't see why the ARRL would
propose moving almost 400,000 people to a higher licence class just
because the ITU made morse code testing optional.

You can thank BPL for that. If we can't lick them on the
egress issue, we'll add multi-hundred-thousands of HF ops
to provide a plethora of additional ingress points and let
the BPL system ops assess their network reliability from that.

I don't think we'll be hearing any protests over this proposal
from Yaecomwood either.

Jim, K7JEB
Glendale, AZ

That's one way of looking at it, Jim. To me, it looks like a purely
political move - that is, trying to please the greatest number of
members...and voters...and customers...

400,000 upgraded licences = 400,000 happier ARRL members.
Drop code = some number of happy new HF - using members.
Keep code for Extra licence = a 'tip of the hat' to the 'Extra' class
members, to give them something to be happy about (although keeping
code testing as a requirement for a licence class that provides only
additional phone bandwidth as a perk is pretty odd, I'd say...but it
does make the Extra level licence harder to get - that's what
everybody wants, right?).

-and- the big one:

New entry level licence with 100W on HF phone, plus simplified test =
a whole bunch of happy new potential ARRL members = lots more
potential members....and voters....and customers.....

All of these proposals are good news for the manufacturers of ham
equipment, and perhaps for us too - if demand is increased, production
will increase and prices of HF radios might do down!

Plus, each one of the above members that got something additional
added to their privileges if this proposal is accepted would have the
ARRL to thank for it. In theory, anyway.

Considering that, following the ITU decision to make code optional
most of the world is moving towards removing the mandatory Morse Code
requirement outright, there isn't much else that they could do without
looking like defenders the status quo, and annoying even more of their
members....and denying them the rights being granted to their fellow
amateur radio neighbours in the rest of the world.

Like, for instance, those just north of you have proposed to do - and
that's likely to happen fairly soon, I expect.

73, Leo


On Tue, 20 Jan 2004 05:42:20 -0700, "K7JEB"
wrote:

snip

You can thank BPL for that. If we can't lick them on the
egress issue, we'll add multi-hundred-thousands of HF ops
to provide a plethora of additional ingress points and let
the BPL system ops assess their network reliability from that.

I don't think we'll be hearing any protests over this proposal
from Yaecomwood either.

Jim, K7JEB
Glendale, AZ

Leo wrote:

400,000 upgraded licences = 400,000 happier ARRL members.

Not true. Only a small percentage of licensees are ARRL members, and they
tend to be the folks that have been hams a long time. The ARRL is sticking
it to the folks who worked hard in the past to pass 20 wpm and the Extra
Class written test. Ironically, those licensees who stand to gain the most
from this proposal are the ones least likely to join the League.

Keep code for Extra licence = a 'tip of the hat' to the 'Extra' class
members, to give them something to be happy about (although keeping
code testing as a requirement for a licence class that provides only
additional phone bandwidth as a perk is pretty odd

5 WPM for Extra Class is an insult, not a tip of the hat. The Extra Class
ticket grants exclusive 25 kHz CW segments on 80, 40, 20, and 15 meters.
These are prime DX frequencies and the proposal doesn't change that. A
higher speed code test for Extra would be more appropriate.

-and- the big one:

New entry level licence with 100W on HF phone, plus simplified test =
a whole bunch of happy new potential ARRL members = lots more
potential members....and voters....and customers.....

This is what the proposal is all about, saving ARRL and the jobs of its
staff. But as we learned after the No-Code license was created in 1991,
most new hams don't join the League.

Art Harris N2AH

In article , Leo
writes:

That's one way of looking at it, Jim. To me, it looks like a purely
political move - that is, trying to please the greatest number of
members...and voters...and customers...

400,000 upgraded licences = 400,000 happier ARRL members.
Drop code = some number of happy new HF - using members.
Keep code for Extra licence = a 'tip of the hat' to the 'Extra' class
members, to give them something to be happy about (although keeping
code testing as a requirement for a licence class that provides only
additional phone bandwidth as a perk is pretty odd, I'd say...but it
does make the Extra level licence harder to get - that's what
everybody wants, right?).

The problem is that the 15 old men of the BoD have just
disenfranchised themselves from over 200K Technician class
licensees who will now carry the wonderful class name of
"Novice."

The ARRL has less than 170K members now. The number of
existing Tech class licensees here is greater than that now.
Those aren't likely to become members to support a group that
thinks they are all "Novices."

NOT good PR to attract membership.

-and- the big one:

New entry level licence with 100W on HF phone, plus simplified test =
a whole bunch of happy new potential ARRL members = lots more
potential members....and voters....and customers.....

"Customers" they already got. Membership is lagging.

ARRL is down to a measly $12 million annual budget (according
to the IRS forms).

All of these proposals are good news for the manufacturers of ham
equipment, and perhaps for us too - if demand is increased, production
will increase and prices of HF radios might do down!

...and Ten-Tec Orion software might finally be completed...:-)

Plus, each one of the above members that got something additional
added to their privileges if this proposal is accepted would have the
ARRL to thank for it. In theory, anyway.

Considering that, following the ITU decision to make code optional
most of the world is moving towards removing the mandatory Morse Code
requirement outright, there isn't much else that they could do without
looking like defenders the status quo, and annoying even more of their
members....and denying them the rights being granted to their fellow
amateur radio neighbours in the rest of the world.

They could have changed the Tech class name to something
they must be thinking of...like "Scum of Radio" or "Not Real
Ham" class.

When the BoD met, they must have arrived with their baggage
intact. Emotional baggage.

Like, for instance, those just north of you have proposed to do - and
that's likely to happen fairly soon, I expect.

I hope that powers-that-be in Canada are with those of us in this
millennium, not the fantasyland of olden days as in the League.

LHA / WMD

In article lq9Pb.25785$Xq2.14841@fed1read07, "K7JEB"
writes:

Leo wrote:

That makes more sense to me, Alun - I don't see why the ARRL would
propose moving almost 400,000 people to a higher licence class just
because the ITU made morse code testing optional.

You can thank BPL for that. If we can't lick them on the
egress issue, we'll add multi-hundred-thousands of HF ops
to provide a plethora of additional ingress points and let
the BPL system ops assess their network reliability from that.

This must be where I saw that idea! And it makes perfect sense.

I don't think we'll be hearing any protests over this proposal
from Yaecomwood either.

Not at all.

But the amateur market is tiny compared to consumer electronics. Even if
FT-1000s were $1000, how many would Yaesu sell in the USA per year?

One "problem" rigmakers have is that ham gear tends to have a fairly long
useful life. A ten-year-old computer is generally considered to be almost
useless today, even if it was top of the line when it was made. But a ten year
old ham rig may be barely broken in. Going back still futher, not many people
are still watching TVs made in the early '60s, but many 40 year old Drake or
Collins lines are in daily use by hams - not out of nostalgia or technical
inertia, but because they were and are pretty good rigs.

73 de Jim, N2EY

ARRL comes up with a new idea.

http://www.arrl.org/news/stories/2004/01/19/1/?nc=1

No code Techs get free upgrade to General.

Newbies get 100W on HF phone via 25 multiple-guess test.

CW (5 WPM) only required for Extra Class.

CW/data sub bands shrink.

Still too hard? Hey, just wait another year. They'll make it even easier.

Art Harris, N2AH
Extra Class since 1971

What did you expect, the ARRL could care less

"WA8ULX" wrote in message
...
ARRL comes up with a new idea.

http://www.arrl.org/news/stories/2004/01/19/1/?nc=1

No code Techs get free upgrade to General.

Newbies get 100W on HF phone via 25 multiple-guess test.

CW (5 WPM) only required for Extra Class.

CW/data sub bands shrink.

Still too hard? Hey, just wait another year. They'll make it even easier.

Art Harris, N2AH
Extra Class since 1971

What did you expect, the ARRL could care less

I am starting to believe you now Bruce.

Dan/W4NTI