N2EY wrote:
> The NPRM also seems to me to be saying that FCC's vision of the
> future is that Techs will be all VHF/UHF, Generals will have most
> privileges, and Extras will have it all.
Life really is like a circle, no? In the very early 50's for HF we had
General, Advanced (if you wanted to work 20 and 75 phone), and Extra ...
plus the Techs who cared only about VHF/UHF/uWave and had been around
for quite awhile. FM hadn't been invented (well, OK, it had but the
SCR-522 was an AM rig). Then came the novice around '52 (wildly popular
despite lots of restrictions), and the Advanced went away sometime in
there, yielding just about what Jim describes above. When I got my
Extra in '56, I don't remember gaining any new privileges.
Then, in the early 70's and not content with simplicity, we 'improved'
on this fairly simple and workable structure with incentive licensing,
billed variously as "critical to the future of amateur radio" by some
and "the end of western civilization as we know it" by others. I do
know that it got quite complex, but being an Extra, I paid little if any
attention to the multitude of sub-bands (and since I didn't have an
amplifier, the power restrictions in them weren't a problem for me
either). I still don't know where any of the sub-bands are without
looking at my ICOM chart on the corkboard. I also don't know the
difference between a Tech and Tech+, but it appears that won't matter in
a few more years.
If there were to be a vote (and I knew my vote would be counted), I'd
vote for simplicity. I never really did understand the value of all
those sub-bands anyway. And now, we already have a growing class
structure of "20WPM Extras," "5WPM Extras," and "zeroWPM Extras." I
don't think this bodes well for the fraternity.
73,
Fred K6DGW (ex KN6DGW)
Amateur Radio Operator
Auburn CA CM98lw
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