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 ______________________________________________________________ Elecraft mailing list Home: http://mailman.qth.net/mailman/listinfo/elecraft Help: http://mailman.qth.net/mmfaq.htm Post: mailto:[email protected] This list hosted by: http://www.qsl.net Please help support this email list: http://www.qsl.net/donate.html Message delivered to [email protected]
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