N2EY wrote:
Japan is a very interesting case study in the no-code-test argument. Japan has
had no-code-test ham licenses *with some HF privileges* for several decades
now. This fact is cited as the reason why there were so many hams in Japan
relative to the size of the country. Even though Japan has less than half the
US population, the number of JA hams (station licenses, not just operator
licenses) exceeded the number of US hams more than 30 years ago. Since more
than 90% of JA hams have no-code-test licenses, no-code-test proponents used to
hold up Japan as an example of what the US should do. (Japan used a rather
torturous argument to get around the treaty - their no-code-test ham licenses
are QRP on HF, and Japan is an island, so the claim is that there's no
interference problem.

That's called the 4th class license, limited to 10w output, for operation
between 21-30 MHz, and below 8 MHz.

Their 1st class license still requires 3 minutes of copy at 12 wpm,
their 2nd class license requires 2 minutes at 9 wpm, and their 3rd
class requires 2 minutes at 5 wpm. See the JARL web site.

73, Jeff KH6O
--
Chief Petty Officer, U.S. Coast Guard
Mathematics Lecturer, University of Hawaii System