N2EY wrote:


It STILL does not answer your suggestion about "several Extras" in RRAP
suggesting that anything less than an Extra Class is "a problem".


That's right.

Need that extra license be a 20WPM? Or is 5WPM good
enough? .... Oh damm, mine is an "Extra lite"

The story relates the telling of some club some time ago wherein some
other group of people may have acted stupidly.


That depends on the definition of "stupid".

You have yet to quote Brian (W3RV), Hans, Jim, the other Jim, or myself,
among others, as having said anything close to "what's his problem" over not
being an Extra class licensee.


Let's clear this up.

The club referred to above is a special-interest amateur radio
organization, not a general-purpose club. Their focus is HF contesting
and DXing, setting up stations to do those things better, and not
much else. They don't do domestic contests or QSO parties; they focus
on the big stuff. Their members are highly competitive, and
progressive. (Example: They were among the very first to have
computers in their hamshacks).

In pursuit of the club goals, an Extra class license is pretty much a
necessity, because the DX is often in those subbands. That's just the
way it is.

So the fact that somebody without an Extra would even apply for
membership and expect to be taken as a serious DXer/contester by that
bunch indicates a problem someplace.

Maybe such a person wants to see if the Extra license's
benefits would be worthwhile to him. ANd if that club
would be for him if and when he did get his extra. Or
just a glutton for punishment....

robert casey wrote:

N2EY wrote:

It STILL does not answer your suggestion about "several Extras" in RRAP
suggesting that anything less than an Extra Class is "a problem".


That's right.

Need that extra license be a 20WPM? Or is 5WPM good
enough? .... Oh damm, mine is an "Extra lite"

The story relates the telling of some club some time ago wherein some
other group of people may have acted stupidly.


That depends on the definition of "stupid".

You have yet to quote Brian (W3RV), Hans, Jim, the other Jim, or myself,
among others, as having said anything close to "what's his problem" over not
being an Extra class licensee.


Let's clear this up.

The club referred to above is a special-interest amateur radio
organization, not a general-purpose club. Their focus is HF contesting
and DXing, setting up stations to do those things better, and not
much else. They don't do domestic contests or QSO parties; they focus
on the big stuff. Their members are highly competitive, and
progressive. (Example: They were among the very first to have
computers in their hamshacks).

In pursuit of the club goals, an Extra class license is pretty much a
necessity, because the DX is often in those subbands. That's just the
way it is.

So the fact that somebody without an Extra would even apply for
membership and expect to be taken as a serious DXer/contester by that
bunch indicates a problem someplace.

Maybe such a person wants to see if the Extra license's
benefits would be worthwhile to him. ANd if that club
would be for him if and when he did get his extra. Or
just a glutton for punishment....

One doesn't attend the meetings of some of these clubs to see if that
club would be for him. Someone will let him know if the club is for him
and notify him only after it has been decided to invite him to join or
not.
There's a certain Cincinnati area DX club which required DXCC and an
invitation to join. The Southwest Ohio DX Association, on the other
hand, doesn't restrict membership. Any guy with a 10m rig and a dipole
can sign up.

Dave K8MN

In article , Dave Heil
writes:

robert casey wrote:

N2EY wrote:

It STILL does not answer your suggestion about "several Extras" in
RRAP
suggesting that anything less than an Extra Class is "a problem".

That's right.

Need that extra license be a 20WPM? Or is 5WPM good
enough? .... Oh damm, mine is an "Extra lite"

Doesn't matter to that bunch. 5 wpm Extra has been available since 1990,
anyway.

The story relates the telling of some club some time ago wherein
some other group of people may have acted stupidly.

That depends on the definition of "stupid".

You have yet to quote Brian (W3RV), Hans, Jim, the other Jim, or
myself,
among others, as having said anything close to "what's his problem" over
not
being an Extra class licensee.

Let's clear this up.

The club referred to above is a special-interest amateur radio
organization, not a general-purpose club. Their focus is HF contesting
and DXing, setting up stations to do those things better, and not
much else. They don't do domestic contests or QSO parties; they focus
on the big stuff. Their members are highly competitive, and
progressive. (Example: They were among the very first to have
computers in their hamshacks).

In pursuit of the club goals, an Extra class license is pretty much a
necessity, because the DX is often in those subbands. That's just the
way it is.

So the fact that somebody without an Extra would even apply for
membership and expect to be taken as a serious DXer/contester by that
bunch indicates a problem someplace.

Maybe such a person wants to see if the Extra license's
benefits would be worthwhile to him.

How would attending meetings tell him that?

ANd if that club
would be for him if and when he did get his extra.

That's a valid reason to go to meetings.

Or just a glutton for punishment....

??

One doesn't attend the meetings of some of these clubs to see if that
club would be for him.

Why not? I did.

Someone will let him know if the club is for him
and notify him only after it has been decided to invite him to join or
not.

At least in the club that the story describes, there's a world of difference
between attending meetings and joining up. Going to meetings is one way to find
out if the club is for you or not. Everyone was very nice to me when I went
there, even thought I was an almost complete stranger. They didn't know my
callsign or license class, either.

There's a certain Cincinnati area DX club which required DXCC and an
invitation to join. The Southwest Ohio DX Association, on the other
hand, doesn't restrict membership. Any guy with a 10m rig and a dipole
can sign up.

Yup. We have clubs like that around here, too.

73 de Jim, N2EY

N2EY wrote:

In article , Dave Heil
writes:

robert casey wrote:

N2EY wrote:

One doesn't attend the meetings of some of these clubs to see if that
club would be for him.

Why not? I did.

....because the only way to attend some of 'em is by invitation.

Someone will let him know if the club is for him
and notify him only after it has been decided to invite him to join or
not.

At least in the club that the story describes, there's a world of difference
between attending meetings and joining up. Going to meetings is one way to find
out if the club is for you or not. Everyone was very nice to me when I went
there, even thought I was an almost complete stranger. They didn't know my
callsign or license class, either.

The Cincinnati area club, described below invited prospective members of
their choosing to attend a meeting. The invited attendee was "grilled"
a bit about his on-air activities, his DXCC status and his contesting
interest. I was invited to a meeting and determined within the first
fifteen minutes or so that I wasn't interested. This old, old club is
all but extinct now--a result of being too picky about who joined. The
old core membership simply died off.

There's a certain Cincinnati area DX club which required DXCC and an
invitation to join. The Southwest Ohio DX Association, on the other
hand, doesn't restrict membership. Any guy with a 10m rig and a dipole
can sign up.

Yup. We have clubs like that around here, too.

There are few clubs hereabouts and none of them are DX/contest clubs.
It is a minimum 25 drive for me to attend even our country ARES
meetings. The nearest DX/contesting club is in Pittsburgh, an
hour-and-a-half away.
In the valley, those who chase DX are K8IP, N8NN, W8GBH and me. I'm not
nearly as active in contesting as in previous years. The idea of
spending 44-45 hours of a 48 hour CQ WW doesn't appeal to me as much now
as it did a decade or so back. I tend to do more single band entries.
160, 80 or 40m guarantees some sleep during the day. 10m at the current
point in the solar cycle would allow me to sleep all night and be bored
all day.

Dave K8MN

In article , Dave Heil
writes:

N2EY wrote:

In article , Dave Heil

writes:

robert casey wrote:

N2EY wrote:

One doesn't attend the meetings of some of these clubs to see if that
club would be for him.

Why not? I did.

...because the only way to attend some of 'em is by invitation.

Wow! Never heard of that before!

Someone will let him know if the club is for him
and notify him only after it has been decided to invite him to join or
not.

At least in the club that the story describes, there's a world of
difference
between attending meetings and joining up. Going to meetings is one way to
find
out if the club is for you or not. Everyone was very nice to me when I went
there, even thought I was an almost complete stranger. They didn't know my
callsign or license class, either.

The Cincinnati area club, described below invited prospective members of
their choosing to attend a meeting. The invited attendee was "grilled"
a bit about his on-air activities, his DXCC status and his contesting
interest.

Understandable, to a point anyway. If the club is special-purpose, folks with a
different focus will almost certainly try to change the direction.

I was invited to a meeting and determined within the first
fifteen minutes or so that I wasn't interested. This old, old club is
all but extinct now--a result of being too picky about who joined. The
old core membership simply died off.

Understandable!

There's a certain Cincinnati area DX club which required DXCC and an
invitation to join. The Southwest Ohio DX Association, on the other
hand, doesn't restrict membership. Any guy with a 10m rig and a dipole
can sign up.

Yup. We have clubs like that around here, too.

There are few clubs hereabouts and none of them are DX/contest clubs.
It is a minimum 25 drive for me to attend even our country ARES
meetings. The nearest DX/contesting club is in Pittsburgh, an
hour-and-a-half away.
In the valley, those who chase DX are K8IP, N8NN, W8GBH and me.

I've belonged to a few clubs in my 37 years, but recently time limitations are
a big problem. It's not that I have no time, it's that the time comes in small
bits at unpredictable or inconvenient times. Most clubs don't have meetings on
weekdays at 5 AM, for example.

I'm not
nearly as active in contesting as in previous years. The idea of
spending 44-45 hours of a 48 hour CQ WW doesn't appeal to me as much now
as it did a decade or so back. I tend to do more single band entries.
160, 80 or 40m guarantees some sleep during the day. 10m at the current
point in the solar cycle would allow me to sleep all night and be bored
all day.

I've always been domestic-contesting focused, for some reason. SS, Field Day,
NA sprints, etc. Small potatoes to the serious contest folk in these parts, but
much more do-able for those with moderate stations and time.

Two weekends to SS, btw. QRP with the K2 or low power with the Type 7? We'll
see.

73 de Jim, N2EY

N2EY wrote:


I've always been domestic-contesting focused, for some reason. SS, Field Day,
NA sprints, etc. Small potatoes to the serious contest folk in these parts, but
much more do-able for those with moderate stations and time.

Two weekends to SS, btw. QRP with the K2 or low power with the Type 7? We'll
see.


You don't do PAQSO? I've never come across your call in the logbooks.

- Mike KB3EIA -

In article , Mike Coslo
writes:

N2EY wrote:


I've always been domestic-contesting focused, for some reason. SS, Field
Day,
NA sprints, etc. Small potatoes to the serious contest folk in these parts,
but
much more do-able for those with moderate stations and time.

Two weekends to SS, btw. QRP with the K2 or low power with the Type 7?
We'll
see.


You don't do PAQSO?

Not yet!

I've never come across your call in the logbooks.

When is the next one?

73 de Jim, N2EY

robert casey wrote in message link.net...
N2EY wrote:


It STILL does not answer your suggestion about "several Extras" in RRAP
suggesting that anything less than an Extra Class is "a problem".


That's right.

Need that extra license be a 20WPM? Or is 5WPM good
enough? .... Oh damm, mine is an "Extra lite"

At 14.153mHz it doesn't matter if you can do 5WPM or 30...It DOES
matter if your license says "GENERAL" or "EXTRA"...

Or did yuo forget that there are other modes than CW,
Robert...?!?!

73

Steve, K4YZ