Len Over 21 wrote:

But, in 2004, U.S. radio amateurs MUST still pass a morse test
to "qualify" for operating an amateur radio transmitter on HF. No
other radio service (other than certain Maritime radio services)
require morsemanship testing.


Since you opened the door, let's do some further comparisons of the ARS to
other services:

* We purposely operate using as little power as possible (QRP), they don't
* We have antenna measuring contests with home-built antennas, they don't
* We conduct emergency comms when other services are down, they're down
* We don't have to operate on pre-assigned frequencies, they do
* We have on-the-air contests (lots of them), they can't
* We can vary our power from 0 to 2KW, they can't
* We exchange post cards after a QSO, they don't
* We're frequency-agile with a VFO, they aren't
* We have swapmeets ("ham fests"), they don't
* We can build our own equipment, they can't
* We operate for the fun of it, they don't
* We have radio club meetings, they don't
* We can ragchew for hours, they can't
* We can operate at will, they can't
* We go on DXpeditions, they don't
* We're licensed, you're not

No 73 for you, Jeff KH6O

--
Chief Petty Officer, U.S. Coast Guard
Mathematics Lecturer, University of Hawaii System