[QCWA] FCC NPRM:

[Jeffrey D Angus]

W1EOF wrote:

>Very well said OM. I've been a ham for 34 years. In that time, I have had
>approx 34 non-CW QSOs. So you can see I'm a diehard CW man. Yet I see no
>point in keeping this as a prerequisite to getting a amateur radio license.
>  
>
In all honesty, I don't think I've had a CW QSO in about 5 years. That was
for SKN on the 30th aneversary of my novice license (With the same gear.)

>I just don't buy the argument that the CW test is a barrier to riff-raff. If
>it is, then how did we get some of those hams on 75m who use inappropriate
>language and poor operating tchniques? Me? I'd much rather that they make
>the tests harder.
>  
>
I've also wondered about that. If CW is the "One True Test" to keep the
morons off of HF, then why are there Morons there?

>The thing that is the largest potential barrier to getting GOOD people into
>radio is the classest and rude comments I read all the time regarding new
>hams. When I became a ham the Old Men treated me as an equal, not as a
>second-class citizen. We really need to ge together to make ham radio
>better, not to fracture it into factions that war with each other.
>
I've seen it from 1967 and forward. Always the "old guys" (of which I am
now one) bitching about the newbies. Damn Novices, techs, generals and
advanced class licensees. Not to mention those "morons" on SSB, FM,
RTTY, slow scan tv, packet, amtor, psk and etc..

However, I _DO_ remember that there were a bunch of people around
that _DID_ make it a point to get the new guys up and running properly.

A few years ago, the lastest "old gomer rant" was the "slow code extras"
who, obviously, were less than human because they already did 13 WPM
and took the written test to upgrade.

Jeff
wa6fwi
(Another one of those less than human operators.)

-- 
"They that can give up essential liberty to obtain a little temporary
safety deserve neither liberty nor safety." Benjamin Franklin
"A life lived in fear is a life half lived."
Tara Morice as Fran, from the movie "Strictly Ballroom"