[CW] Destructuring

[Ken Brown]

Hi all,

Strange how a topic gets started and strays far from what the original 
subject was. Not at all surprising anymore, having read a lot on 
reflectors....
Anyway I am really sort of surprised there was not more discussion about 
what were the underlying reason for eliminating the higher speed code 
tests, and axing the Novice and Advanced licenses. Maybe since I'm a 
newcomer to this reflector, I missed that discussion, and I'm sure I'd 
be tired of it if had had been there. Was there a great clamor of 
Volunteer Examiners saying "all these different test elements are too 
complicated and take too much time"? I don't think so. I'm a VE and I 
never had a problem with it. Even if there were a justification for 
having only one speed CW test ( and I do not believe there is) why 
eliminate the Novice class license? Supposedly the new structure has 
simplified it all for the VECs, VEs, and the FCC by reducing the number 
of license classes. It has not though since there are now more license 
classes, with Novice and Advanced still being renewable. And there are 
two kinds of Technician instead of two licenses with different names. 
And there is all that looking back at past records to see whether 
someone passed 5 WPM long ago. It really is much more complicated.
One thing that never made sense to me was gaining more phone priveleges 
by passing a higher speed CW test. Though it has always made sense for 
CW ability to be a requirement to get on the air in any mode. Enough has 
been said about that already though. Still I have not heard from anyone 
a good reason why a small portion (say 25 kHz) of each band is no longer 
reserved for those who have worked to develop their skill. Why not 5 WPM 
for General and Advanced and 15 or 20 still for Extra? It's almost as if 
the new system is actually designed to kill CW, more than to give the no 
work whiners access to the phone bands. Go ahead call me paranoid.

Ken N6KB