I'm very happy with Amateur Radio (or "ham radio" for those who prefer).
It might not be perfect, whatever that measure might be, but it
affords me the opportunity to participate in the world's greatest hobby
in the manner I so choose.
Had our hobby not grown as it did, I wonder if Elecraft would have ever
achieved the size, excellence and reputation is enjoys today? Reading
QST is sometimes beyond my ability to comprehend. I'm no rocket
scientist.
Why should ham radio be "a place for those who have proven that they
have the necessary skills to continue to practice those "ancient" and
no longer commercially viable skills"? There are no commercially
produced regenerative receivers and most modern transmitter don't have
any tubes.
As far as Morse code is concerned, it's the only mode I choose to use -
100%. I also limit myself to HF and to QRP. Those are my choices.
Similarly, there are many others who prefer to focus on just digital, or
just VHF, or just.....you name it.
This hobby has room for real rocket scientists as well as slowpokes like
me.
On Mon, Aug 01, 2016 at 06:51 PM, Joe Subich, W4TV wrote:
Given that amateur radio in the US is now completely "no code" - there
is no need to become proficient even for an Amateur Extra class
license
- the early "no code" steps were a Faustian bargain just as the
fiction
of "semi-automatic control" for digital operations was a Faustian
bargain.
As much as it pains me to say, we would arguably be better off with
fewer licensees and maintaining a reasonable standard for entry.
There
is no credible evidence that amateurs can continue to advance the
state
of the art and evidence to the contrary that the current license base
represents a trained pool of operators. The quality of operators and
the behavior heard on the air today is abhorrent when judged by the
standards of 15 years ago.
Perhaps it is time to review the basis and purpose behind amateur
radio
and move to a "national park" model. That is a place for those who
have proven that they have the necessary skills to continue to
practice
those "ancient" and no longer commercially viable skills. Consider it
the "primitive" areas of the National Parks
73,
... Joe, W4TV
On 8/1/2016 5:18 PM, Ken G Kopp wrote:
I got one of the 1st Novice licenses issued ... in September, 1951.
Took
the exam in Oklahoma City, where the FCC came only once per year. My
"Elmer" was a retired Navy CW op and I was taught well. Long ago I
was a
commercial shipboard RO on a NOAA vessel.
I'm one of the six people who created the "no code" license. In what
I
consider one of the greatest honors in my Amateur Radio ... I
-detest- the
name "ham" ... career the ARRL appointed me as one of the six members
of
their No Code Study Committee. BTW, each of us were / are die-hard
CW
operators.
We we --told-- by the FCC that we would be getting some form of
codeless
licensing and we should come up with something that most could live
with.
Lots of "details" were covered over a year and a half of meetings,
conference calls, etc.
I still have a large box of pro and con correspondence in the attic.
The
number of letters is about equally divided.
An example of the results ... yesterday I had a KE0 proudly tell me
he'd
just passed his "expert" license, and, his radio emitted a multi-tone
CB
"roger beep" each time he unkeyed his microphone.
Without the "no code" license we most likely wouldn't have Amateur
Radio
with the record 750K licenses we have today, and there's political
"safety
in numbers".
Please, let's not start a thread on the subject. I just thought some
"first person" input would be of interest.
73
Ken Kopp - K0PP
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