| Home |
| Search |
| Today's Posts |
|
#10
September 3rd 04, 06:40 AM
|
|||
|
|||
In article , Leo
writes: On 02 Sep 2004 04:18:56 GMT, (Len Over 21) wrote: In article , Leo writes: On 01 Sep 2004 20:09:31 GMT, (Len Over 21) wrote: snip The Notice is available at: http://strategis.ic.gc.ca/epic/inter.../sf06456e.html Thank you for the link! Any Canadian radio amateurs care to comment on that? I'm not Canadian, but I think it fails to follw the KISS principle. They want to add an Intermediate licence to their Basic and Advanced. Why don't they just abolish the 'Plus' categories (i.e. plus Morse)? That would be much simpler. I'm not Canadian either as a "Carbo-American," but I think the "plus" category is a sop to the existing Canadian mighty morsemen. Canada must have its share of olde-fahrt hamme morsemen and those must be "satisfied." I am  - and fully agree with your observation that there are -um-a fair number of 'old school' amateurs up here, who do not believe in the abolishment of the Code Test (approximately a third of the respondents to the RAC survey on this subject). The RAC proposal attempts to meet the needs of both the "Pro Morse" and "No Morse" factions of the hobby - in quite an interesting way. Both sides win - either path leads to a full HF-access Amateur license. Now dat's a typically Canadian solution, eh? I'm not familiar with that sort of "typicalness." Been in here in this ultra-conservative retro-tech newsgroup too much. :-) Hmmm - not good for a guy like you, living in one of the more free thinking areas of the country.... Oh, there's plenty of independent thinking going on here, trying to look at all sides to see which one seems best. That I learned from design work...and trying to do a good job. (an aside ... I have relatives in Redondo Beach - spent a few happy summers there when I was a teenager learning Californian philosophy.... and a fair bit of anatomy too, on the beach....wow! Southern California was the birthplace of the space shuttle and the Bikini...not to mention lots of good airplanes along the way. The beach cities down here (Redondo, Hermosa, etc., etc.) DO have some very nice views of the, er, ocean... :-) I would say instead it is a GOOD COMPROMISE and to the credit of the Radio Amateurs of Canada and Industry Canada. I believe that the proposal is a good one - inasmuch as it provides access to HF without the requirement of Morse testing. It does recommend that Morse testing be made available should the applicant desire it - I have no problem with that. Status quo - or not. Your choice. That's fair and equitable in my viewpoint. Mighty macho morsemen will disagree and ignite (again) Flame Wars instead of simple bonfires. That would be typical......unfortunately. Realistically, this hobby has more than enough breadth to accomodate the needs of both the Morse and No Morse proponents. That should be true but for the outraged ultra-conservatives. Too many of that group are anal-retentive in trying to keep the status quo. It recommends raising the pass marks on the exams - good idea, most believe that they are way too low right now (60% is a pass on both the Basic and Advanced tests currently). No issue there. That's good in my view. Mine too. The more knowledge, the better. Can't have enough knowledge. It is indeed a compromise intended to satisfy both the Morse and No Morse factions of the hobby - but it does so with considerably more elegance than the ARRL proposal, in my opinion. ARRL is not fully into this new millennium. :-) Some wonder if they ever made it into the last millennium... In some ways, only the first quarter of it..... Frankly, they seem too concerned with playing politics than guiding the hobby into the future. I see it as internal politics, trying to preserve what they have and who has it. The league DOES do some good work. The anti-BPL work is very good. BPL is a threat to ALL who use HF and should transcend any politics. For much of the rest of it, I see it as the league trying to survive. They have failed to gain as much as a quarter of all licensed U.S. amateurs as members over the last decade-plus. ARRL has filed U.S. federal income tax showing that they are a $12 million (in 2002) business. "Tax-exempt" status, yes, but a business nonetheless. Membership dues aren't enough to keep the buildings warmed, staff paid, electricity for the equipment bought. Their major monetary source is QST ad sales (to keep QST afloat) and PUBLISHING. If they lose that publishing arm they can kiss their much-heralded free services for members goo-bye. Many in Newington would be looking for new work. The RAC proposal to IC was based on an Internet survey which was open to all licensed Canadian amateurs (not just RAC members). The ARRL proposal seems to have been developed autonomously by the Directors, with little (if any) input from the Amateur community. No wonder everyone was surprised when it was filed! That's the thing...the entrenched "we know what's best for you (members) and everyone else" attitude. Many don't agree with that and haven't joined even if they can afford the small annual dues. The league got away with that for decades before the Internet went public in 1991. They did all the interfacing with the FCC, most of the lobbying, then promoted themselves as the Big Brother of all U.S. hams. They managed to convince a hard core of Believers who are outraged and ready to fight anyone who says the least little negative thing about the league. [witness some of its Believers in here] I'm in favour of it - and my comments to that effect have been filed with IC, as of today. Good on you! I have to agree with Hans Brakob in that our northern neighbor in Norse America is doing the right thing for their future. Modernization is long overdue. [excuse me...NORTH America...;-) ] heh.....that brought back memories of Leif The Lucky from grade school! Norsemen were the first European discoverers of North America. Yup - long before Columbus got lost and thought this was India! He should have bought that Garwin GPS handheld when he had the chance... :-) Settled in what is now Canada (New Foundland) for a while. Dunno why they left...maybe they objected to speaking French? ...they probably left because they couldn't find jobs (the unemployment rate in Newfie is a whopping 20% or so - WAY above the national average of just over 7%!) A definite NOT GOOD situation there. My sympathies with the workers not working. Industry Canada has much simpler regulations for their radio amateurs but accomplish the same thing in the hobby. Well said. The less regulations, the better the hobby! .....and the less I gotta remember.... Band limits and other technical necessities should be enough. Fully agreed. Up here, bandplans for the various operating modes are compiled by the RAC, and adhered to by gentlemen's agreement. It is absolutely legal to operate SSB on 7.100 MHz, or CW on 7.250 MHz, but it just isn't done! Peer pressure is the only enforcement tool required. There's a slightly different peer pressure active down here. :-) Has much to do with personality conflicts and self-righteousness, much less about actual radio technology. BTW, that electronic test that can run on any PC looked rather neat! Simple way to do it and the computer does most of the paperwork as well as keeping a record of it being done and when. It is pretty neat indeed! Free, too! Rack up some points for the RAC and IC. They deserve applause. Normally, one should be wary of free things from the Government.... Now, now... :-) Learning skills of long ago just to get a license in here and now is nowhere close to being progressive and just doesn't keep up with the times. Again, fully agreed. Especially since the rest of the world is moving towards the future - we would look pretty silly clinging steadfastly to the past. In amateur radio technology, the "outsiders," the designers and manufacturers (mostly off-shore to North America) are the ones doing it. Names like Icom, Yaesu, Kenwood, Panasonic (Matsu****a), JRC, etc., etc. etc...in HF, VHF, UHF, and now beginning to get into the microwave region. I chanced upon a 5.8 GHz cordless phone at Fry's Electronics (the huge consumer electronics supermarket chain of about a dozen in this corner of the U.S.). That's pushing into C band, something impossible to have on the consumer market with vacuum tubes. Full digital two-way, low-power radio with all the extra features of the L band cordless units. Affordable stuff. There are so many cellular telephone subscribers down here that our Census Bureau reports that one in three citizens has one. A little, almost minuature, two way radio working at the bottom of the microwave region! Newer models complete with little cameras and keyboards built in. Those extras may be fluff to many but they've all been crammed into that little tiny package. I'm still incredulous at the amazing leaps forward in technology since I first began working (way back when tubes were king). Getting equipment to work reliably at high UHF was an accomplishment worthy of much praise and doing the same in the microwave region was almost a miracle. Now its become an accomplished fact. Way back when of the 50s, only the well-heeled hams could afford the near-precisely tuneable Collins rigs with their "PTOs" that could find their way to better than the nearest Kilocycle, receive or transmit. All others were stuck with approximations using squint-read dials and "bandspread" tuning set with the aid of a 100 KHz crystal "calibrator." Now anyone can get a direct digital readout down to 10 Hz of the correct frequency. No sweaty-dah. It used to be that tuning up a tube transmitter actually took some finesse and a little experience to do. Now the transistor PAs don't need it and have automatic protection in case the VSWR gets too high. Need to match to a "funny" antenna? No sweat, there's several automatic-tuning tuners on the market, takes the worry out of getting as much as possible into the antenna and out to the world. Push-button ease. 73, Leo PS - WTF is a "Carbo-American"? - never heard that one before! Came from a couple of comic strips running in the L.A. Times as well as elsewhere. Backlash to the "Adkins Diet" craze. :-) [or "Atkins Diet" or whatever..."zero carbohydrates"] Got it - we have been bombarded by the "Adkins" diet craze up here too. It's nothing that a Big Mac and a couple of beers won't fix I'm a supporter of Krispy Kreme myself. :-) Unfortunately their "two (boxes) for the price of one" on Tuesdays went kaput with that no-carbo diet. One Tuesday a month would let us fill up the freezer with the extras...8 seconds in the micro- wave and there was a warm, yummy KK thing down the hatch. BTW, the Olay cosmetics company now has a body wash product called "Ohm." [just saw it on the shelves at market today] I think that will meet with some resistance in some U.S. ham circles... :-) Ooh - that one hurt! I was wondering what inspired Olay's marketing types. I'm sure that a product named "Farad" or "Henry" wouldn't be good. "Ohm" is strange but sounds akin to "Ommm, mane padme ommmm..." chanting. :-) BTW, if we keep this up, you might be in danger of buggering up your reputation with - ahem - some of the regulars here as a difficult guy to converse with.... NOOOOOOOOOOOO?!?!?!?!?! What makes you say that? :-) :-) :-) :-) |
| Thread Tools | Search this Thread |
| Display Modes | |
|
|
Similar Threads
|
||||
| Thread | Forum | |||
| Response to "21st Century" Part One (Code Test) | Policy | |||
| My response to Jim Wiley, KL7CC | Policy | |||
| Comments to FCC on RM-10787 No Code Proposal | Policy | |||
| Some comments on the NCVEC petition | Policy | |||
| NCVEC NPRM for elimination of horse and buggy morse code requirement. | Policy | |||
Threaded Mode
