On Oct 20, 2005, at 7:28 AM, [EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote:
In a message dated 10/19/05 11:37:44 PM Eastern Daylight Time,
[EMAIL PROTECTED] writes:
Well, the big problem is -- there are no more Novices!
Yes, there are! Also Tech Pluses and "Techs-with-HF", who have the
same privileges as Novices.
But those Techs aren't restricted to operating CW like we were 30
years ago. Extremely few of them are active on HF CW.
se are the numbers of current, unexpired
amateur radio licenses held by individuals
on the stated dates, and the percentage of
the total number of active licenses that
class contains:
As of October 15, 2005:
Novice - 27,606 (4.2%) [decrease of 21,723]
Technician Plus - 45,994 (6.9%) [decrease of 82,866]
QED. And of the licensees that exist -- how many of them are actually
active on the HF novices bands?
Trust me, I remember when the novice bands were full of activity
every evening. That's just not the case any more. The nature of the
hobby has changed -- the path of activity that people take is now
different. If they are operating CW, it isn't in the Novice bands, by
and large.
Except there's no separation between Morse Code and data modes on
those subbands, at least in the USA. Data modes aren't allowed in
the HF 'phone image subbands, but outside them, all the data modes
share the same space as Morse Code. Only good operating practice
keeps them apart.
And there's nothing wrong with good operating practice. We use it to
great effect on 160m.
I don't think that petition has been filed yet. It proposes
regulation by signal bandwidth, not mode. It has some good ideas
and some flaws.
I wasn't talking about the bandwidth petition, but the Novice band
refarming petition.
There were 18 petitions to FCC from mid-2003 to mid-2005 about
changing license classes, Morse Code and written testing, new entry-
level license classes, subbands, and a whole bunch more. They all
got RM numbers and comments. FCC replied to all 18 petitions by
05-235, which proposes to simply drop Element 1 (the 5 wpm code
test) and make no other changes at all.
The ARRL regulation by bandwidth petition is a separate deal.
I thought the Novice band refarming was still active. Seems there was
an NPRM for that, too.
Bill Coleman, AA4LR, PP-ASEL Mail: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
Quote: "Not within a thousand years will man ever fly!"
-- Wilbur Wright, 1901
_______________________________________________
Elecraft mailing list
Post to: [email protected]
You must be a subscriber to post to the list.
Subscriber Info (Addr. Change, sub, unsub etc.):
http://mailman.qth.net/mailman/listinfo/elecraft
Help: http://mailman.qth.net/subscribers.htm
Elecraft web page: http://www.elecraft.com
