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September 23rd 04, 10:23 PM

(N2EY) wrote in
om:

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

I tend to think that a single class of licence would be a good
idea, although many people argue that there should also be a
beginner's licence, and I am not totally opposed to that. I don't
see a genuine need for more than two licences, though.

Then what you'd want, ideally, is a single class of license whose
written test would at least be equivalent to the current written
requirements for Extra - all in one go.

It would also need to include those elements from the Tech and General
tests that are not repeated in the Extra class test.

Right you are, Dee.

That would mean an exam of at least 100 questions, allowing for
overlap and the simplification of some rules. And the prospective ham
would have to pass it all in one shot.

Would that *really* be optimum for the ARS?

73 de Jim, N2EY

When the UK had a single theory test it had 95 questions of all levels of
difficulty. I thought that was optimum, so, of course, they did away with
it!

September 23rd 04, 10:32 PM

"Alun" wrote in message
...
(N2EY) wrote in
om:

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

I tend to think that a single class of licence would be a good
idea, although many people argue that there should also be a
beginner's licence, and I am not totally opposed to that. I don't
see a genuine need for more than two licences, though.

Then what you'd want, ideally, is a single class of license whose
written test would at least be equivalent to the current written
requirements for Extra - all in one go.

It would also need to include those elements from the Tech and General
tests that are not repeated in the Extra class test.

Right you are, Dee.

That would mean an exam of at least 100 questions, allowing for
overlap and the simplification of some rules. And the prospective ham
would have to pass it all in one shot.

Would that *really* be optimum for the ARS?

73 de Jim, N2EY

When the UK had a single theory test it had 95 questions of all levels of
difficulty. I thought that was optimum, so, of course, they did away with
it!

Perhaps optimum for demonstrating the competency of the prospective ham but
probably not optimum in encouraging people to get into the hobby. People
would be put off by the amount of material that they would be required to
study and simply quit after a few days.

Although those who lost privileges with the introduction of the 5 step
licensing system were rightfully upset by this, still the data shows that
amateur radio had its largest and longest lasting sustained growth after
this was implemented. People want to take it in "bite size" chunks rather
that swallowing the whole ham (pun intended) at once.

Dee D. Flint, N8UZE

September 24th 04, 12:16 PM

In article , "Dee D. Flint"
writes:

Alun" wrote in message
.. .
(N2EY) wrote in
om:

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

I tend to think that a single class of licence would be a good
idea, although many people argue that there should also be a
beginner's licence, and I am not totally opposed to that. I don't
see a genuine need for more than two licences, though.

Then what you'd want, ideally, is a single class of license whose
written test would at least be equivalent to the current written
requirements for Extra - all in one go.

It would also need to include those elements from the Tech and General
tests that are not repeated in the Extra class test.

Right you are, Dee.

That would mean an exam of at least 100 questions, allowing for
overlap and the simplification of some rules. And the prospective ham
would have to pass it all in one shot.

Would that *really* be optimum for the ARS?

73 de Jim, N2EY

When the UK had a single theory test it had 95 questions of all levels of
difficulty. I thought that was optimum, so, of course, they did away with
it!

Perhaps optimum for demonstrating the competency of the prospective ham but
probably not optimum in encouraging people to get into the hobby. People
would be put off by the amount of material that they would be required to
study and simply quit after a few days.

Good point! Plus I'm pretty sure both the test format wasn't an open-pool of
multiple-choice questions, and the technical level of the questions was
somewhat higher than in the US exams.

How does the number of hams-per-capita in the UK compare to the USA? How is the
growth?

Could it be that the *written* test is/was a "barrier" there?

Although those who lost privileges with the introduction of the 5 step
licensing system were rightfully upset by this, still the data shows that
amateur radio had its largest and longest lasting sustained growth after
this was implemented. People want to take it in "bite size" chunks rather
that swallowing the whole ham (pun intended) at once.

Exactly. With the elimination of the waiting period for Extra more than a
quarter century ago, anyone who wants to do the whole thing in one go can do
so.

73 de Jim, N2EY

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