(Art Harris) wrote in message . com...
"Chuck...K1KW" wrote:

What really amazes me is you folks don't know what the real test is for
getting on HF!!!! You have to do it!!! That means really figuring out how
to put up the appropriate antenna, tuning it, tuning and running your rig
properly, ect.

It can't be that hard; after all, hundreds of thousands of CBers
managed to get on 11 meters. Modern rigs don't require much "tuning"
and most newbies tend to buy pre-assembled dipoles or multiband
verticals. The rigs are plug and play with microphones included.

We had a pretty good license structure in the mid '60s. Most folks
started with a (non-renewable) Novice ticket with very limited
privileges to get their feet wet. Then they upgraded to General with
full amateur privileges.

That wasn't good enough for ARRL. They insisted we needed more license
classes and more exams (incentive licensing). FCC bought into it, and
we all had to upgrade or lose privileges. Now, ARRL is cheapening the
value of those higher class licenses they insisted we get.

Don't mean to nit-pick here but it was the FCC which dreamed up
Incentive Licensing, not the League. The FCC proposal was far more
Dracinian than was the League's response to it. In the end the FCC
bought into some of the League's arguments but imposed it's own
"vision" in other cases. If you go back thru the history of ham
regulation you'll find that it's usually been the FCC which decided
to generate the regulatory lurches, not the ARRL.


I figure that in about five years we'll have only one license class,
and that it will require only a single simple multiple-choice exam.
Will that re-energize ham radio? I doubt it.

Art Harris N2AH

Brian w3rv

(Brian Kelly) wrote in message . com...
(Art Harris) wrote in message . com...
"Chuck...K1KW" wrote:

What really amazes me is you folks don't know what the real test is for
getting on HF!!!! You have to do it!!! That means really figuring out how
to put up the appropriate antenna, tuning it, tuning and running your rig
properly, ect.

It can't be that hard; after all, hundreds of thousands of CBers
managed to get on 11 meters. Modern rigs don't require much "tuning"
and most newbies tend to buy pre-assembled dipoles or multiband
verticals. The rigs are plug and play with microphones included.

We had a pretty good license structure in the mid '60s. Most folks
started with a (non-renewable) Novice ticket with very limited
privileges to get their feet wet. Then they upgraded to General with
full amateur privileges.

That wasn't good enough for ARRL. They insisted we needed more license
classes and more exams (incentive licensing). FCC bought into it, and
we all had to upgrade or lose privileges. Now, ARRL is cheapening the
value of those higher class licenses they insisted we get.

Don't mean to nit-pick here but it was the FCC which dreamed up
Incentive Licensing, not the League. The FCC proposal was far more
Dracinian than was the League's response to it. In the end the FCC
bought into some of the League's arguments but imposed it's own
"vision" in other cases. If you go back thru the history of ham
regulation you'll find that it's usually been the FCC which decided
to generate the regulatory lurches, not the ARRL.

I wuz gonna post something similar but ya beat me to it.

Some details:

FCC's 1965 proposal included such doozies as:

- all Advanceds (40K of them, about 15% of US hams at the time)
*DEMOTED* to General class

- new "Amateur First" class license, with new written test and 16 wpm
code test, plus 1 year experience as a General.

- distinctive callsigns for all license classes so you'd know right
away who was who.

- subbands that were even more restrictive (like the lower 50 kHz of
the CW/data subbands being Extra only, and even more 'phone being
taken away
from Generals)

And the ancient history is even more interesting. Before 1951 there
were effectively only two license levels and one code test speed. FCC
thought
that wasn't enough, and in '51 brought out three new levels and placed
new restrictions on HF 'phone. Then in late '52 they reversed
themselves and
gave all hams except Novices and Techs all operating privileges. Why
the
turnabout? Nobody seems to know.

But after just 5 years (1958) of the new system, FCC was unhappy with
it
and wanted changes. By 1963 they were so unhappy they said that things
were going to change one way or another, and wanted proposals. ARRL's
original 1963 proposal did not require any additional code testing for
full privileges, and only one more written test (the old Advanced).
There
were also at least ten other proposals, many from individuals, and FCC
took elements from many of them.

Personally, I think FCC had a bad case of "Sputnik Fever".

I figure that in about five years we'll have only one license class,
and that it will require only a single simple multiple-choice exam.
Will that re-energize ham radio? I doubt it.

Oddly enough, in the years following "incentive licensing", the number
of US hams grew like mad after having been flat through most of the
1960s.

Go figure - they upped the requirements and ham radio grew...

73 de Jim, N2EY

"N2EY" wrote in message
om...

Oddly enough, in the years following "incentive licensing", the number
of US hams grew like mad after having been flat through most of the
1960s.

Go figure - they upped the requirements and ham radio grew...

73 de Jim, N2EY

The why is actually quite simple. The potential ham viewed it as being able
to take the trip into ham radio in small, manageable, bitesize chunks
instead of having to swallow the entire steak in one gulp. That perception
is what caused the growth whether or not it represented reality.

Dee D. Flint, N8UZE

In article om, "Dee D.
Flint" writes:

"N2EY" wrote in message
. com...

Oddly enough, in the years following "incentive licensing", the number
of US hams grew like mad after having been flat through most of the
1960s.

Go figure - they upped the requirements and ham radio grew...

73 de Jim, N2EY

The why is actually quite simple. The potential ham viewed it as being able
to take the trip into ham radio in small, manageable, bitesize chunks
instead of having to swallow the entire steak in one gulp. That perception
is what caused the growth whether or not it represented reality.

Excellent point! And it explains the appeal of the old Novice, becaue it made
the first step less of a stretch.

And of course anyone who wanted to take bigger bites could do it.

73 de Jim, N2EY

"N2EY" wrote in message
...
In article om, "Dee D.
Flint" writes:

"N2EY" wrote in message
. com...

Oddly enough, in the years following "incentive licensing", the number
of US hams grew like mad after having been flat through most of the
1960s.

Go figure - they upped the requirements and ham radio grew...

73 de Jim, N2EY

The why is actually quite simple. The potential ham viewed it as being
able
to take the trip into ham radio in small, manageable, bitesize chunks
instead of having to swallow the entire steak in one gulp. That
perception
is what caused the growth whether or not it represented reality.

Excellent point! And it explains the appeal of the old Novice, becaue it
made
the first step less of a stretch.

And of course anyone who wanted to take bigger bites could do it.

73 de Jim, N2EY



Oh balderdash. The 70s brought Dick Bash and multiple guess, and no cw
sending, and easier tests, and Volunteer Examiners. Balderdash.

Dan/W4NTI

Dan/W4NTI wrote:


Oh balderdash. The 70s brought Dick Bash and multiple guess, and no cw
sending, and easier tests, and Volunteer Examiners. Balderdash.

BalderBash?

- Mike KB3EIA -

In article . net, "Dan/W4NTI"
w4nti@get rid of this mindspring.com writes:

"N2EY" wrote in message
...
In article om, "Dee D.
Flint" writes:

"N2EY" wrote in message
. com...

Oddly enough, in the years following "incentive licensing", the number
of US hams grew like mad after having been flat through most of the
1960s.

Go figure - they upped the requirements and ham radio grew...

73 de Jim, N2EY

The why is actually quite simple. The potential ham viewed it as being
able
to take the trip into ham radio in small, manageable, bitesize chunks
instead of having to swallow the entire steak in one gulp. That
perception
is what caused the growth whether or not it represented reality.

Excellent point! And it explains the appeal of the old Novice, becaue it
made
the first step less of a stretch.

And of course anyone who wanted to take bigger bites could do it.

73 de Jim, N2EY

Oh balderdash.

No, it's true. The number of US hams stalled at around a quarter million for
most of the '60s. Then it started to grow again about 1969.

The greatest period of growth was from 1929 to 1935, when the number of US hams
almost tripled in about 5 years.

The second greatest period of growth was from 1951 to 1962, when the number of
US hams increased 2-1/2 times (from about 100K to 250K)

The 70s brought Dick Bash and multiple guess, and no cw
sending, and easier tests, and Volunteer Examiners.

Timeline:

1960: FCC eliminates the last "draw a diagram" and essay questions from the
writtens and goes to full multiple choice.

1967: Novice becomes two years and loses 2m 'phone, Advanced reopened to new
issues.

1968: First set of subband restrictions due to IL

1969: Second set of subband restrictions due to IL

Early 1970s: First Bash books appear.

1977: Code sending test waived

1984: VE system takes over license testing: Q&A pools published.

Balderdash.

Well, of the items you mentioned, only the Bash books and the end of sending
tests occurred in the 1970s.

Since the actual tests used before 1984 are not available, who is to say if
they were "harder" or "easier"?

73 de Jim, N2EY

"N2EY" wrote

|
| Since the actual tests used before 1984 are not available, who is to
say if
| they were "harder" or "easier"?
|

Those of us who took them.

The material today is somewhat more difficult, since it covers a much
broader range of technology than the 1960's stuff.

73, de Hans, K0HB

"N2EY" wrote in message
...
In article . net,
"Dan/W4NTI"
w4nti@get rid of this mindspring.com writes:

"N2EY" wrote in message
...
In article om, "Dee
D.
Flint" writes:

"N2EY" wrote in message
. com...

Oddly enough, in the years following "incentive licensing", the
number
of US hams grew like mad after having been flat through most of the
1960s.

Go figure - they upped the requirements and ham radio grew...

73 de Jim, N2EY

The why is actually quite simple. The potential ham viewed it as
being
able
to take the trip into ham radio in small, manageable, bitesize chunks
instead of having to swallow the entire steak in one gulp. That
perception
is what caused the growth whether or not it represented reality.

Excellent point! And it explains the appeal of the old Novice, becaue
it
made
the first step less of a stretch.

And of course anyone who wanted to take bigger bites could do it.

73 de Jim, N2EY

Oh balderdash.

No, it's true. The number of US hams stalled at around a quarter million
for
most of the '60s. Then it started to grow again about 1969.

The greatest period of growth was from 1929 to 1935, when the number of US
hams
almost tripled in about 5 years.

The second greatest period of growth was from 1951 to 1962, when the
number of
US hams increased 2-1/2 times (from about 100K to 250K)

The 70s brought Dick Bash and multiple guess, and no cw
sending, and easier tests, and Volunteer Examiners.

Timeline:

1960: FCC eliminates the last "draw a diagram" and essay questions from
the
writtens and goes to full multiple choice.

1967: Novice becomes two years and loses 2m 'phone, Advanced reopened to
new
issues.

1968: First set of subband restrictions due to IL

1969: Second set of subband restrictions due to IL

Early 1970s: First Bash books appear.

1977: Code sending test waived

1984: VE system takes over license testing: Q&A pools published.

Balderdash.

Well, of the items you mentioned, only the Bash books and the end of
sending
tests occurred in the 1970s.

Since the actual tests used before 1984 are not available, who is to say
if
they were "harder" or "easier"?

73 de Jim, N2EY

Those that took the tests and can read still today.

Dan/W4NTI

(N2EY) wrote in message ...

The greatest period of growth was from 1929 to 1935, when the number of US hams
almost tripled in about 5 years.

Thank Hoover for that. He had the right formula to grow the ARS.