[Boatanchors] Upgrade question

[H.W.Hall]

>
Actual surveys of the HF bands have indicated that there 
is a noticeably higher number of stations using  CW now than there were 
before the requirement was removed.  Also, sales of Morse code practice 
materials from the ARRL and other sources are substantially up from the 
period before the code requirement was removed.  Many beginning hams  
(not all, of course) have expressed that learning CW was very high on 
their list of  things they wanted to accomplish. 
>

Now that is interesting and contrary to what I had expected when the news
came out that CW testing was to be dropped. Thanks for sharing that.  

I've enjoyed reading the mail on the licensing subject recently and have to
agrees it is true that the state of the testing is not the fault of the
newcomers to ham radio, so to hand them a 'put-down' as not real hams is
not fair. I guess that whether they are real hams or not will instead be
shown by what they do after they get their licenses. 

Oh, and a special thanks to all who have shared their recollections of the
testing horrors and their operating experiences. 

I haven't nearly any such interesting tales. I was Novice licensed my
Senior year in high school, by a General class back in 1970. I tried the
single 6AG7 xmtr in the ca1956 ARRL Handbook with, unfortunately, an HC-6U
xtal instead of a FT-243. It destroyed the crystal after a few minutes of
testing :-(  But I rebounded & built a single 6146 xmtr from a later
(~1967?) Handbook & got my feet wet. My Dad was an inactive ham, so I got
to use his NC-300 for a rcvr! Later I upgraded a bit to a Heath DX-40 for
the rest of my Novice time. At Appalachian State, there was a ham club & a
carload of us went for licensing & upgrades, to Asheville if I recall
correctly, in the Spring of my Freshman year. All passed & I was given the
chance to take the Advanced test after passing the General. So I went from
Novice to Advanced in one trip. I thought that was cool then, but now I
wonder if I wouldn't rather have the memory of one more FCC test trip. 

73,
Wayne
WB4OGM