"Jim Hampton" wrote in message
...

"Dan/W4NTI" wrote in message
ink.net...

"Dave Heil" wrote in message
ink.net...

My attitude toward many of the current crop of new techs is one bathed
upon five years observation, since returning to the U.S. I haven't
chased
them anywhere. In fact, it has been just the opposite. I've tried to
encourage them to use simplex on FM. I've tried to encourage them to
try
6 meters along with 432 and 144 MHz SSB and CW. I can't be faulted
that
they don't act after being encouraged. If these folks are, in fact
"trapped" in a world of 2m only FM repeater operation, they have
fashioned
the trap themselves by not being more curious about the rest of VHF/UHF
amateur radio. There are avenues open to them but they aren't
participating.

Dave K8MN


Man does that say it all in a well articulated paragraph. Valid points
out
there
in tech land.

The Technician ticket originally was envisioned to enable those that had
a
technical
slant that needed a place to play on the "air". It has degenerated
into
a
defacto
"entry level" to present day Ham Radio. What a bummer.

I bet a lot of those out there don't know that the original Tech written
was
exactly
the same as the General. The ONLY difference was the General had a 13
WPM
cw test. Send and Receive. And the Tech had a 5wpm......and was
available
by
mail.

Dan/W4NTI



Hello, Dan

Been there, didn't want that T-shirt. The danger back when was that if
you
couldn't pass the 13 WPM, you had two choices: one was work on your code
while the other was to take the tech.

Some folks back then wanted the General but settled for a tech license
when
they couldn't pass muster at 13. Unfortunately, if you got on the air
(back
when, 2 meters was the novice voice band to try and get more activity on 2
meters!) it was possible to *never* work on the code and you were stuck as
a
tech. Most likely 6 meters was the band of choice as the best front ends
might have had a 4.5 dB noise figure on 440 MHz. Even 2 meters wasn't all
that busy; Heathkit sixers and twoers were the rigs of the day. I really
wan't familiar with any territory above 30 MHz back then.

The other choice was to work on your code. The novice license was issued
for one year and was not renewable. I took this choice and it took me a
while to get my code speed up. When I did take the test and pass 13, I
was
good for about 18 (which helps when you're nervous and travel 60 miles to
take the test administered by the FCC, not a VEC).

Of course, there were those that were only interested in VHF and above.
Moonbounce was just starting to happen and dx records at 1.2 GHz and above
were likely measured in miles. Not many. A very low noise pre-amp on 440
MHz probably had a 4.5 dB noise figure. Once you headed into microwaves,
you simply had a diode mixer front end and not only noise, but signal loss
as well. Not at all like today. Most vacuum tubes had interelectrode
capacitances and delays in getting electrons across the void that
prohibited
most from operation much above 500 MHz. There were lighthouse tubes,
travelling wave tubes, and others (I had a couple of gizmos that looked
like
Sputnik. I never knew what they were intended for LOL).

Funny thing is that if you do get to a reasonable level of code
proficiency
(as required by the General class and above back when) there was yet
another
danger: you just might enjoy it )


73 from Rochester, NY
Jim AA2QA




Yep indeed....it was "up or out". Novice good for 1 year, non renewable
and can't get it again. Talk about incentive licensing.

A very good friend mine, Ray, K8DEN recently passed away. I am so happy
he finally was able to get on HF. Thats right as a 5wpm General. He was
like you said, just could NOT learn the code. Whether physical or mental I
don't know.

Yes indeed VHF back then was tough. But it was fun. I had it both ways. I
was on CW on HF and phone on 2m AM. Loved them both.

It is much easier for the beginning ham now than it was for us Jim. Perhaps
it is too easy and that is the problem.

Dan/W4NTI