[SixClub] New license structuring and BPL

[jeffdrau]

Well here's my 2 cents worth and maybe a little more. Guess I got a little
carried away hi.

I think the President of the ARRL Jim Haynie, W5JBP explained it pretty
well.
We need a way to not only increase the number of Ham operators but a way to
keep those
operators operating. As it is now, a Technician is stuck in repeater land.
This is a lot of fun,
sitting around listening to folks talk about work and all their aches and
pains.
When you do get on the repeater you are treated like an outsider by the
people you most want to
be accepted by.

What a shock when you realize that the Amateur Radio fraternity that you
heard so much about
is so hard to find! Just look at some of the comments that have been made
right here. It would
not make me feel very welcome if I had just joined the group. Would it you?

Even after passing the 5 wpm test you are stuck on frequencies that are
pretty poor a lot of the time.
So while you are waiting for a band opening you tune around a bit. There's a
lot going on but you can't
join in. Now why did I learn the code again? How long is this going to hold
your interest?
These are bright, intelligent people, a lot of which have never known a time
when there was not a computer
in the house. They have always been able to use Email, discussion groups and
cruise the web. Maybe setup a website, pickup their cell phone and call
their buddy across town or across
the country or the world for that matter. And we expect them to sit
patiently by and wait for a band opening
while someone on the repeater is saying how the tests have been "dumbed"
down and how the license doesn't
really mean anything.
No! These folks are not going to sit by and wait.
They are going on the web and get other interests and before long Ham Radio
is just a memory. If this continues to happen that's exactly what Ham Radio
will be, A Memory!

By allowing them to get on HF right out of the gate they can have the thrill
we had, working DX or talking to someone a couple of states over. And maybe,
just maybe, this will hold their interest long enough to meet a few Hams
that will treat them with a little respect and they can start learning some
operating procedures and check out some of the other modes of operation as
they go.
Maybe they will check out CW and find that they like it or that they want a
higher class license and realize in the process that CW is not all that bad
or they may hate it and never use it again after getting their license as
most other operators have done in the past.
But at least they hung around long enough to find out that the hobby is more
than repeaters and an occasional
band opening.

We have a lot of other threats to our hobby, to our passion, other than if
someone can send and receive Morse code! Some of the worst operators I've
ever heard passed a 13 wpm CW test. It didn't make them better operators.
BPL is one of the biggest threats to Amateur Radio in our history, if BPL is
incorporated on a wide scale it could shut us down.
Be careful of the old slight of hand trick, you're watching this hand while
the other is picking your pocket.
It is happening right now as we sit here and argue back and forth about code
no-code.
Go to the ARRL home page, they have a lot of information on BPL and links to
FCC web pages also.

Instead of wasting out time talking about this I suggest our time would
better be spent trying to stop BPL. Go to the FCC's website and tell them
how you feel about BPL. Get more people into Ham Radio so we have a louder
voice. Write your representatives in government. But most important is the
FCC, put your comments where they will be read by those that are making the
decisions. We need to let them know we are out here.
I really believe it is now or never! Once the BPL door is opened we will
never be able to get it closed.
Thanks for the bandwidth, 73.
Jeff Draughn, N0OST