"Hamguy" wrote in message
...
http://www.hamwave.com/cgi-bin/index...iewnews&id=214

Just for the record, I am a Canadian ham and I am NOT in favor of dropping
the code. I too am afraid this will lead to total deregulation of the
amateur bands. We don't even have to pay for the renewal of our licenses as
it is. Drop the code and we all know what will happen, 10-4??

4-10 good buddy!!


"Max" wrote in message
news

"Hamguy" wrote in message
...
http://www.hamwave.com/cgi-bin/index...iewnews&id=214

Just for the record, I am a Canadian ham and I am NOT in favor of dropping
the code. I too am afraid this will lead to total deregulation of the
amateur bands. We don't even have to pay for the renewal of our licenses
as
it is. Drop the code and we all know what will happen, 10-4??

Hi,
Yes, no code = open flood gate = demise of ham radio as we know today.
As is, the quality of hams are on the down hill lately. How many are
still soldering, building something? I do.
73,
Tony, VE6CGX

Same thing was said here in the US when the FCC reduced the requirement for CW
down to 5 wpm. The predicted doom and armagedon never happened.
=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-
73! de Andy KC2SSB - WPYI880 (GMRS)
Beachwood, NJ USA! Grid FM29vw
http://vhfradiobuff.tripod.com

"VHFRadioBuff" wrote in message
...
Hi,
Yes, no code = open flood gate = demise of ham radio as we know today.
As is, the quality of hams are on the down hill lately. How many are
still soldering, building something? I do.
73,
Tony, VE6CGX

Same thing was said here in the US when the FCC reduced the requirement
for CW
down to 5 wpm. The predicted doom and armagedon never happened.

Because the code is still in place, maybe???
It's not 20wpm keeping people from getting on HF, it's the willpower to sit
down and LEARN the code in the first place.
Speed has nothing to do with it.
rb

(KC8CPK)

Because the code is still in place, maybe???
It's not 20wpm keeping people from getting on HF, it's the willpower to sit
down and LEARN the code in the first place.
Speed has nothing to do with it.
rb

I don't agree. After the code speed requirement was lowered in the US, a lot of
new upgrades happened, probably more than would have happened if they didn't
lower the speed. Ham radio didn't fall apart as many had predicted.

Also, you have to remember that just because they drop the code, doesn't mean
every ham that doesn't have HF privilages will upgrade, and out of those that
do, how many have the money and space for HF radios and antennas? If anything,
10 meters might show an increase due to the large number of cheap "export"
radios (illegal here in the US though) and the simplicity of a 10m vertical
(little to no tuning required of an 11m CB antenna to get it on 10m and CB
antennas are cheap).

I think you give too little credit to the hams that can't currently talk on HF.
There's been restictions in place to make it hard to get on HF for a long time,
and look at the quality of some of the "old timers" or "REAL" hams talking on
160, 80, 40... An influx of new hams into the HF band might just make it a
little more enjoyable. However, with anything in life, the more people you
involved, the greater the number of idiots you'll encounter. It's just life,
not ham radio.
=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-
73! de Andy KC2SSB - WPYI880 (GMRS)
Beachwood, NJ USA! Grid FM29vw
http://vhfradiobuff.tripod.com

I don't agree. After the code speed requirement was lowered in the US, a
lot of
new upgrades happened, probably more than would have happened if they
didn't
lower the speed. Ham radio didn't fall apart as many had predicted.

Also, you have to remember that just because they drop the code, doesn't
mean
every ham that doesn't have HF privilages will upgrade, and out of those
that
do, how many have the money and space for HF radios and antennas? If
anything,
10 meters might show an increase due to the large number of cheap "export"
radios (illegal here in the US though) and the simplicity of a 10m
vertical
(little to no tuning required of an 11m CB antenna to get it on 10m and CB
antennas are cheap).

I think you give too little credit to the hams that can't currently talk
on HF.
There's been restictions in place to make it hard to get on HF for a long
time,
and look at the quality of some of the "old timers" or "REAL" hams talking
on
160, 80, 40... An influx of new hams into the HF band might just make it a
little more enjoyable. However, with anything in life, the more people you
involved, the greater the number of idiots you'll encounter. It's just
life,
not ham radio.

Yes, I agree with your point from the "existing hams" view... it was the
'open floodgate' idea about the general non-ham public that I was rooting
in. I mean that many repeater users don't upgrade to HF because they don't
want to learn code at all, but did have the willpower jump on the 5wpm thing
since there were suddenly no more code obstacles to loom over them. (i.e.
the new upgrades were current hams moving up, not outside people coming in.)
Mine was an outside-looking-in point.
Heck, look at my upgrade date to General class (KC8CPK), If I'm not mistaken
I did my 13wpm test about 30 days or less BEFORE the change. But only for
bragging rights.... not because I love code. I could have just waited a few
weeks and took the written only. Anyway...
Ham radio as a whole seems to be withering away.....
Had a nasty argument with the president of the local dying, struggling ham
club of 18 paying members, of which, only 12 owned a radio, and of that 12,
only 9 have a radio that will get past the "lock" we put on the repeater.
(we went CTCSS due to pagers). And, of course, of that 9, a whopping 7
required a visit from myself and my buddy to program the PL into their
radios.
As a matter of fact, 2 people quit the club when we put PL on the repeater
because they didn't think it was fair for us to force them to have to buy a
new radio... (NONE even toyed with the idea of an external PL board..... not
fair to make them do that, either.)
Pres. is a 65yr old ham, on air over 20 years as a Tech plus. I was going to
start an ARES group and he opposed it saying it would cut the throat of the
current struggling club. He had no understanding of what I had planned and
saw it as a threat.
Comments were made:
"Just how do you plan on having a club with no repeaters?"
"Why can't we just work with the civil defense with our current club?"
and a host of other equally enlightened remarks... and if you didn't catch
that, this man has been a ham for 20+years and is held in very high regard
by the club members that keep voting him into the pres. position.
THAT is what's wrong with ham radio..... well, that and the ever-popular
power trip, too-many-chiefs-not-enough-indians,
callsign-on-a-repeater-is-my-claim-to-fame syndrome. Yes, you are right...
unfortunately too many people with too much time and too much personality
are drawn to hobbies like this and it does make it difficult.
But, priorities are different for everyone. Ham radio is not even in my top
10, but I do enjoy it a lot, mostly HF.
rb

"R. Belcher" wrote in message
...
I don't agree. After the code speed requirement was lowered in the US, a
lot of
new upgrades happened, probably more than would have happened if they
didn't
lower the speed. Ham radio didn't fall apart as many had predicted.

Also, you have to remember that just because they drop the code, doesn't
mean
every ham that doesn't have HF privilages will upgrade, and out of those
that
do, how many have the money and space for HF radios and antennas? If
anything,
10 meters might show an increase due to the large number of cheap
"export"
radios (illegal here in the US though) and the simplicity of a 10m
vertical
(little to no tuning required of an 11m CB antenna to get it on 10m and
CB
antennas are cheap).

I think you give too little credit to the hams that can't currently talk
on HF.
There's been restictions in place to make it hard to get on HF for a
long
time,
and look at the quality of some of the "old timers" or "REAL" hams
talking
on
160, 80, 40... An influx of new hams into the HF band might just make it
a
little more enjoyable. However, with anything in life, the more people
you
involved, the greater the number of idiots you'll encounter. It's just
life,
not ham radio.

Yes, I agree with your point from the "existing hams" view... it was the
'open floodgate' idea about the general non-ham public that I was rooting
in. I mean that many repeater users don't upgrade to HF because they don't
want to learn code at all, but did have the willpower jump on the 5wpm
thing
since there were suddenly no more code obstacles to loom over them. (i.e.
the new upgrades were current hams moving up, not outside people coming
in.)
Mine was an outside-looking-in point.
Heck, look at my upgrade date to General class (KC8CPK), If I'm not
mistaken
I did my 13wpm test about 30 days or less BEFORE the change. But only for
bragging rights.... not because I love code. I could have just waited a
few
weeks and took the written only. Anyway...
Ham radio as a whole seems to be withering away.....
Had a nasty argument with the president of the local dying, struggling ham
club of 18 paying members, of which, only 12 owned a radio, and of that
12,
only 9 have a radio that will get past the "lock" we put on the repeater.
(we went CTCSS due to pagers). And, of course, of that 9, a whopping 7
required a visit from myself and my buddy to program the PL into their
radios.
As a matter of fact, 2 people quit the club when we put PL on the repeater
because they didn't think it was fair for us to force them to have to buy
a
new radio... (NONE even toyed with the idea of an external PL board.....
not
fair to make them do that, either.)
Pres. is a 65yr old ham, on air over 20 years as a Tech plus. I was going
to
start an ARES group and he opposed it saying it would cut the throat of
the
current struggling club. He had no understanding of what I had planned and
saw it as a threat.
Comments were made:
"Just how do you plan on having a club with no repeaters?"
"Why can't we just work with the civil defense with our current club?"
and a host of other equally enlightened remarks... and if you didn't catch
that, this man has been a ham for 20+years and is held in very high regard
by the club members that keep voting him into the pres. position.
THAT is what's wrong with ham radio..... well, that and the ever-popular
power trip, too-many-chiefs-not-enough-indians,
callsign-on-a-repeater-is-my-claim-to-fame syndrome. Yes, you are right...
unfortunately too many people with too much time and too much personality
are drawn to hobbies like this and it does make it difficult.
But, priorities are different for everyone. Ham radio is not even in my
top
10, but I do enjoy it a lot, mostly HF.
rb

there was a large exodice from the CB ranks (or is that the rank CBers) to
HAM radio when the "Tech Lite" license came into being. I didn't feel like
that was a real bright move. (I was already General Class at the time).
There were a lot of CBers that had the tech knowledge but not the code. I
seem to remember that there were a lot of 220mhz machines that went up and a
lot of new technology came to the hobby. I still feel like there should be a
*minimal* code requirement... however....that was the one thing that really
seperated the license classes (except advanced)
There are pros and cons.... I wonder what the results would be if all of the
HAMS were polled to see what they think??

-Steve (n6ojn)

Corona balls are *not* a social disease.

Had a nasty argument with the president of the local dying, struggling ham
club of 18 paying members, of which, only 12 owned a radio, and of that 12,
only 9 have a radio that will get past the "lock" we put on the repeater.
(we went CTCSS due to pagers).

I'm sorry to hear about the local ham club. Our local ham club (Jersey Shore
Amateur Radio Club) has never been stronger with an excellent group that meets
every Thursday. The first Thursday is the meeting. The rest are social
gatherings, usually an informal dinner/get together. There are repeaters on
10m, 2m, 1.25m, and 70cm sponsored by the club. Many of the local club members
also get on the statewide 70cm linked system, which has a local 2m link and is
accessible via Echolink. Unfortunately I don't have the time to join the club.
As far as repeaters with tones, you couldn't talk on most of the repeaters here
in NJ without the ability to use PL tones. It's rare to find one that has none.
Some of the repeaters are even going to DTS.
=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-
73! de Andy KC2SSB - WPYI880 (GMRS)
Beachwood, NJ USA! Grid FM29vw
http://vhfradiobuff.tripod.com

I wonder what the results would be if all of the
HAMS were polled to see what they think??

At this point it would be moot. The international community has said "Remove
the code" and it's only a matter of time until the code is removed here in the
US. It doesn't matter how much bickering is done or how many comments are filed
with the FCC.
=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-
73! de Andy KC2SSB - WPYI880 (GMRS)
Beachwood, NJ USA! Grid FM29vw
http://vhfradiobuff.tripod.com

Yup, it's a changing world.... get on the wagon or get left behind. Well,
hopefully ham radio won't be left to die...
rb

--

=


"VHFRadioBuff" wrote in message
...
Had a nasty argument with the president of the local dying, struggling
ham
club of 18 paying members, of which, only 12 owned a radio, and of that
12,
only 9 have a radio that will get past the "lock" we put on the repeater.
(we went CTCSS due to pagers).

I'm sorry to hear about the local ham club. Our local ham club (Jersey
Shore
Amateur Radio Club) has never been stronger with an excellent group that
meets
every Thursday. The first Thursday is the meeting. The rest are social
gatherings, usually an informal dinner/get together. There are repeaters
on
10m, 2m, 1.25m, and 70cm sponsored by the club. Many of the local club
members
also get on the statewide 70cm linked system, which has a local 2m link
and is
accessible via Echolink. Unfortunately I don't have the time to join the
club.
As far as repeaters with tones, you couldn't talk on most of the repeaters
here
in NJ without the ability to use PL tones. It's rare to find one that has
none.
Some of the repeaters are even going to DTS.
=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-
73! de Andy KC2SSB - WPYI880 (GMRS)
Beachwood, NJ USA! Grid FM29vw
http://vhfradiobuff.tripod.com