On 26 Nov 2004 04:22:50 GMT, Alun wrote:

However, anyone who has a licence from a country that has an ordinary
bilateral reciprocal agrrement with the US can operate in the US even as a
permanent resident for an indefinite period of time.

An excellent reason to never issue a U.S. call sign to a Japanese ham.
There is no circumstance where they'd NEED a U.S. license, because
they can operate in the U.S. or in any U.S. territory with their
Japanese license. Throw stroke whatever on the end of their JA call
and they're good to go. No paperwork required, no resources wasted.

So maybe you'd like to ban VE tests held outside the US? That would be hard
on your military. How do you get licenced if you are posted somewhere that
you don't speak the language?

No, I wouldn't. You go to the U.S. Embassy or a U.S. military base and
take the test. Think about this - How do you pass a test in Japan
that's in English if you don't speak English? Remember that song from
the 70's? With a little help from your friends?

Another suggestion I saw in this thread was to stop aliens from being VEs.
I don't think that would fly constitutionally speaking either.

You're missing the whole point, Alun. The U.S. Constitution does NOT
apply to Japanese nationals who live in Japan. You live in the U.S.
You're a VE, and help other VE's in the U.S. give tests. That's
wonderful, and the fact that you're not a U.S. citizen doesn't bother
me a bit. I'm not a lawyer, so I'm not sure you have any
constitutional rights in the U.S. or that you were allowed to vote in
the presidential election, but that's not the point here.

If three Filipino's give a VE test for licenses in the Philippines,
that bothers me. If three Japanese hams give a VE test for U.S.
licenses in Tokyo, that bothers me. And I'm sure it would bother a lot
of other hams in the U.S.

So, what do you seriously suggest?

Cut out the world wide bogus VE testing. If you are U.S. military or
U.S. civilian overseas, you go to the U.S. Embassy or a U.S. military
base and take the test. And you prove to the people administering the
test that the address you put on the 610 form is REALLY where you
live, and not a P.O. Box at Mailboxes Plus that you and your buddies
chipped in to pay for, or the P.O. Box number of the Guam QSL bureau.

I don't really think anyone cares if someone in Japan can get a call that
belongs to the mainland US.

I think if you did a poll of U.S. hams, you'd find that thinking is
way out in left field.

Maybe it'll help you see the big picture if we sum it up one more
time:

If you are a ham from ANY country and you LIVE in the U.S., and you
can't operate in the U.S. under CEPT agreements, then by all means you
should be allowed to take the test (in the U.S.) and get a U.S.
license.

BUT - If you're a ham that lives in the Philippines, and you think it
would be neato keen kool as a moose to have a U.S. license just for
the hell of it, you should NOT be allowed to get one - and most
certainly not when the test is given by three other Filipino hams who
have never been to the U.S. but somehow managed to get U.S. licenses
and sign up with W5YI.

Wouldn't it have been nice if all the final exams we took in school
were administered by our classmates at the bowling alley on Saturday
night with no teachers around to watch? I bet if we used that system,
it wouldn't have taken me eight years to finish high school.....

AND - If you are a Japanese ham that lives in Japan, and you think
that it would be kewl to have a U.S. license so that when you go to
VP9 for vacation you can pretend you're from the U.S. so you're
allowed to operate in VP9, or because a U.S. call would look kewl on
your QSL card, you should NOT be allowed to get one.

Nobody has a problem with hams that are REALLY in the U.S. getting a
license, no matter where they were born and raised. It's not a
citizenship thing. Nobody has a problem with you getting a license in
the U.S. even though you don't really need one, because you ARE in the
U.S.

The problem is with hams who have NEVER been in the U.S., or never
intend to BE in the U.S. getting licenses they don't really need or
ever intend to use in the U.S. OR that they intend to use as an
International Radio Passport.

Example: All the KH0/KH2/KH7/Wxxx calls issued to JA's. Some of them
operate in Guam or Saipan, once, or once in a while. Many don't ever
operate there. Now that the CEPT agreement covers Japan, they don't
NEED a U.S. license so it's a waste of resources and call signs to
issue them one and it allows them to falsely present themselves as
U.S. hams in other countries to obtain reciprocal operating privledges
that they couldn't get with a Japanese license. Before CEPT if they
wanted to operate in Guam, they had to get a U.S. license or a
reciprocal license. Those days are over.

Why shouldn't 3 JA's be allowed to test me for a U.S. ham license in
Japan? The same reason I can't take a test for a Florida drivers
license in Japan at the Tokyo Motor Vehicle Department. Because it
makes no damn sense.

73, Jim KH2D