"Alun L. Palmer" wrote in message
.. .
"John Smith" wrote in
:

N2EY:

Perhaps introduce testing for "African Message Drum" also, bet some of
those guys could pound out a little ditty and have it carry a message
to! Maybe chant a little rap with it too!

Some testing in the care maintenance of carrier pigeons might be in
order to, for the guys who wanted real DX!

John

wrote in message
ups.com...
Leo wrote:
On Fri, 29 Jul 2005 19:37:30 GMT, "KØHB"
wrote:

An interesting announcement! Here in Canada, Morse Code is now an
alternative method of qualifying for HF privileges.

In other words - Morse survived!

Morse Code *testing* survived - it's just not mandatory anymore in
Canada.

IIRC, this was exactly what the commentary on the proposal supported.

A couple of the other requests from the Amateur community
via the
RAC proposal) were granted as well - increasing the pass
marks on the
exams to 70% from 60%, and the addition of commercial kit-building
privileges for Basic license holders.

Not bad - now there's a regulatory agency that listens. Well done,
Industry Canada!

I agree 100%!

They found a way to give everyone some of what they wanted.
They listened to what the majority of those expressing an
opinion supported, and acted on it. They produced a set of
regulations designed to reconcile or at least minimize
polarization, rather than increase it.

What concepts, eh? ;-)

Perhaps we in the USA should suggest such a system to FCC....



73 de Jim, N2EY




It's a little late, isn't it Jim?

I find it interesting that South Africa was the first one to propose such
a
system, but I don't think the ZAs adopted it in the end. I have no trouble
in principle with an alternative theory/code system, but how would you do
it? Maybe Elements 2 and 3 + 20 wpm or elements 2, 3 and 4 to get full
privileges?

It's all moot now anyway. We all know the NPRM will become the R&O.

There is one loose end, though. I read the NPRM to say that Tech+ would
become closed, so that all new Techs would have to get element 3 to get
on
HF, but others have read it that all Techs would get Tech+ privileges.
Does
anyone know which is right?


At first reading the text is confusing. However after going over it several
times, the FCC does explicitly state that Techs will have to take the simple
General exam to get HF privileges. They state that since the test is
simple, it is unwarrented to give Techs HF privileges.

Also on eHam, one of the posters states that he has called the FCC and
gotten clarification that it is indeed their intent to require Techs to
upgrade to get additional privileges. However I haven't confirmed if the
poster has or has not called.

The best thing to do would be to read it yourself several times through (it
is a bit confusing at first).

My XYL (N3MKR) is a no-code Tech, but she will be taking element 3 anyway.
Her object is to get a UK licence. As she is not a US citizen (neither am
I), the only way for her to do that short of taking the UK tests is to get
her General, which would entitle her to a UK Full licence. She isn't
prepared to learn code to do it, but then neither is she in the least
interested in getting on HF, or anything besides 2m FM as a matter of
fact.


Ok, this is confusing. If she isn't interested in anything besides 2m FM,
why is she upgrading and why is she interested in a full UK license since
you are now residents of the US. Not that there's anything wrong with this
but it doesn't make sense.

Dee D. Flint, N8UZE