[CW] Dissing the ARRL

[Jay Eimer]

Of course the "freebies" will resist anything that requires effort, of any
kind.  But not all young people fit this category.  I'm not quite 40, and
have been a ham only for a little over a year.  But I do know how to work
for something.  I have 7 different college degrees, one a Ph. D.  Don't even
tell me I don't know how to work.

And my daughter is 15, and about to graduate from high school
(homeschool/independent study) and is working on her General, having been a
Tech for 9 months.

Jay
AD5PE
----- Original Message ----- 
From: "n3drk" <n3drk@triad.rr.com>
To: <N2EY@aol.com>; <cw@mailman.qth.net>
Sent: Wednesday, January 07, 2004 9:59 PM
Subject: Re: [CW] Dissing the ARRL


> Excellent Summary Jim.
>
> But THE FREEBIES, who have never had to work for anything in their life
will
> resist this. They do not know what it is to want something bad enough to
> work for it. There are many people out there like that. And these future
> "Elmers" sit by for  ten years waiting for a FCC Policy Change rather than
> motivating and uplifting themselves to pursue what others have
accomplished.
> These are the so- called "whiners"  which is so inherent in our society
> today. They say " If we complain and resist long enough we can change the
> status quo." This not only pertains to ham radio but too all aspects in
> American Society.
> 73's
> john
>
>
>
>  <N2EY@aol.com>
> To: <Makos327@worldnet.att.net>; <cw@mailman.qth.net>; <w3uls@3n.net>
> Sent: Wednesday, January 07, 2004 9:56 PM
> Subject: Re: [CW] Dissing the ARRL
>
>
> > In a message dated 1/7/04 5:50:27 PM Eastern Standard Time,
> > Makos327@worldnet.att.net writes:
> >
> >
> > > It's about a bunch of ops concerned about the lowering of
> > > standards to the point where having an Amateur Radio license won't
mean
> > > anything, anymore.
> > >
> > >
> >
> > Some background on the above.
> >
> > Way back when I got started in 1967, getting a ham license was a bit
> > different than today. Let's put aside the code test entirely and
> concentrate on the
> > other requirements.
> >
> > In those days you could get started with the Novice, which had a simple
> > written test. But that license had extremely limited privileges in
> spectrum, modes
> > and power. It was only good for a short time (one year until 1967, then
> two
> > years) and it was "one to a customer". No renewals and no retaking the
> test. If
> > you didn't upgrade before the Novice ran out you were off the air until
> you
> > could pass a higher class exam.
> >
> > In those days the written tests were multiple choice, but they were kept
> > secret. The FCC published "study guides" consisting of essay-type
> questions and
> > answers, which indicated the areas of knowledge you needed to know to
pass
> the
> > test. Although the study guides *seemed* simple enough, the fact of the
> matter
> > was that
> > the actual questions could deal with almost any aspect touched on by the
> > guides.
> >
> > The written tests for the non-Novice licenses required that you
understand
> a
> > good bit of radio theory, practice and regulations. They weren't
extremely
> > "hard", but since you had only a hazy idea what was on them, you tended
to
> > over-prepare for them. Which wasn't a bad thing.
> >
> > Novice, Technician and Conditional licenses were given by mail, which
> meant a
> > multistep process:
> >
> > 1 - find a ham who would act as a volunteer examiner for you.
> > 2 - take code test from volunteer examiner
> > 3 - volunteer examiner writes letter to FCC saying you passed code and
> would
> > they send the written
> > 4 - wait 6-8 weeks
> > 5 - when written comes, take test with volunteer examiner as proctor.
Exam
> > comes and goes back to FCC in special sealed envelopes. volunteer
examinr
> does
> > not grade exam
> > 6 - wait 6-8 weeks
> > 7 - If you passed, license arrives in mail. If not, go all the way back
to
> > step 1 and start again.
> >
> > If you lived within 175 miles "air line" of an FCC quarterly exam point
> > (place where FCC gave exam four times a year or more) you had to take
test
> for
> > licenses other than Tech or Novice from FCC examiner. 175 miles air-line
> may be a
> > lot farther on the ground, too. Exams are almost all given only on
weekday
> > mornings during business hours. Closed on holidays. If you're a kid in
> school,
> > wait for summer or maybe you'll have a chance at the Christmas holiday.
If
> > you're a working person, count on at least a half-day off from work.
Make
> that a
> > full day if you live any serious distance from the exam point.
> >
> > Fail an exam and you cannot retest for 30 days. All elements for an
> upgrade
> > must be passed at the same test session - no CSCEs. If you flunked the
> code you
> > didn't even get to try the written, and if you missed the written by
even
> one
> > question, too bad, go home and study some more and don't come back for
at
> > least a month. They would not tell you which questions you got wrong,
> either.
> >
> > No credit for license elements passed by mail exam. Even though the Tech
> and
> > General used the same written exam, if you had a by-mail Tech, you had
to
> take
> > the written again to get a General.
> >
> > If you want an Extra, you need two years' experience as a General,
> > Conditional or Advanced before they'll let you near the Extra test.
> Doesn't matter if
> > you have a First 'Phone and a Ph.D in EE, a 12 year old with two years'
> > experience can take the test and you can't.
> >
> > For a time in the '60s the FCC collected fees for license tests,
renewals
> and
> > modifications. Novice was free but FCC office was $9 in 1968 and 1970
when
> I
> > was there. $9 doesn't sound like much but it works out to $40-50
adjusted
> for
> > inflation.
> >
> > Did we take it seriously? You betcha!
> >
> > When I applied to college, one of the things that helped me get into EE
> > school was having earned an Extra class amateur license at age 16,
between
> > sophomore and junior year of high school. There weren't many other
Extras
> in the whole
> > university, either.
> >
> > Compare all that to the present system - with or without code test. And
> > remember that although ARRL and others pushed for better written tests,
> back in
> > 2000 the FCC cut the written testing down by more than a third. Before
> April
> > 2000, an Extra required a 5 written tests totalling 185 questions. Now
it
> takes 3
> > written tests totalling 120 questions. And there are folks who want even
> less
> > *written* testing...
> >
> > 73 de Jim, N2EY
> >
> >
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