[AMRadio] Is the novelty of the "new" 40mbandwearing

[D. Chester]

> Probably the best way to attack this situation is, all of us who
> can, use all frequencies available.  I am a extra so when I go into
> the shack to check for activity, I tune to 7.280-95 then down to
> 7.160 to see who is on the air.  I don't make a decision about who
> to talk with by frequency.
>
> So if there is a good signal on 7.293, I will be there.  I urge
> others to do the same and those who are Generals to upgrade if they
> choose.  Personally I was a General (Conditional class) from 1956
> until 1973 and saw nothing bad about it.  I did the upgrade in 1973
> because of the possibility of Incentive Licensing restrictions.
> Then I went to Advanced and stayed there until the next round of the
> FCC actions about licenses in 2000.  I decided to get the Extra
> because I was tired of them fooling with my frequencies and
> privileges.
>
> So if someone doesn't want to change license class that is just
> great with me.  As I said I don't make my decisions about my
> conversations by license class but by signal strength and quality.
> Knowing most of the people who posted to this discussion topic, I
> don't believe it was meant to be exclusionary, just an attempt to
> promote activity and to use frequencies most AM operators haven't
> been using for quite a while.  Welcome aboard to all.
>
> Jim/W5JO

I don't know why they even bother to keep the US amateur bands segmented 
with all these subbands and sub-sub bands.  The whole concept of incentive 
licensing was obviously abandoned long, long ago; even the ARRL now publicly 
admits that amateur radio is no longer a technically oriented endeavour but 
a "communicator's hobby". The League even took  most of the technical  stuff 
out of QST and squirreled it away in that separate publication that even 
full members have to pay extra for, QEX, based on the notion that the 
majority of QST readers would have no interest in technical articles.  Not 
only did incentive licensing prove to be a dismal falure in terms of its 
stated purpose, which was to enhance the technical knowledge and skills of 
the amateur radio population, if anything, IL after it went into effect in 
1968, *accelerated* the demise of technical experimentation, home-building 
and AM phone.  Just look back at any of the amateur radio magazines of the 
pre-inncentive licensing era, 73, CQ, Ham Radio or QST, and compare the 
content to what you see in CQ or QST to-day.

Due to the present sub-band/sub-sub-band structure, large segments of every 
HF band have turned into vast wastelands with no US activity, period, while 
other segments remain overly congested, and much of the spectrum where phone 
is used world-wide remains off limits to US hams and US hams only.  It 
reminds me of the Jim Crow South in the pre-civil rights era: when using 
phone US hams are relegated to the back of the bus.

We should simply go the way of Canada, UK and many other countries round the 
world that have only a couple of classes of licence, offering "limited" and 
"full" privileges.  The limited entry level class would have limited 
privileges not based on band segments, but perhaps based on maximum power 
level and/or access only to certain bands or modes.  That was the way it 
actually was prior to 1968, when we had Novice (very limited CW privileges), 
Technician (all privileges above a certain  VHF/UHF frequency), and General 
(full amateur privileges). Our sub-bands and sub-sub-bands based on such a 
complex matrix of operator class and modes of emission is nothing short of 
ridiculous, and no such a thing exists anywhere else in the world.

Don k4kyv
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