Should Technicians be given 17m, 12m, and 10m phone?

[KA5ROW]

No: if a tech wants more privileges let them work for it.

[AA7EJ]

Yes
It is time to get rid of "privileges" based on knowledge which is no longer necessary to OPERATE COMMERTIAL equipment.
The whole idea of “incentive licensing” was wrong, did not work for years and does not work today and nobody is going to admit it.

Thunder is good, thunder is impressive; but it is lightning that does the work.
--Mark Twain

[WG7X]

Here we go again...

Why is it that in this country today, all we see and hear is all about giveaways?

• Students are passed from grade to grade without ever learning anything.
• People "immigrate" to this country with out ever bothering about all those silly laws.
• People are on the dole without ever putting a dime into the system.

I could go on, but you get the idea.

Now, we have someone who wants to include ham radio into the giveaway. Why not?

After all, we have apparently given up on the idea of having any standards, accountability, or ethics. Why not just say to heck with it and open the bands to anyone with some cash and an itch to "broadcast"? After all, isn't it their "right" as a citizen of this once-great country to do so?

Well... Is it?

Or is operating Amateur radio equipment more akin to operating a car, a boat or an airplane?

All of those are potentially hazardous, and usually require exams, experience, and a license of some sort. Ham radio might seem harmless, but there are some hazards involved and also the problem with signals that propagate over international boundaries.

All of the above are good reasons to require that our country's Amateur radio operators have the knowledge necessary to operate their equipment in both a safe and legal manner. The best way to ensure the experience necessary is to require that our hams spend a little time going though some sort of process, however limited it may be.

Just giving them HF privileges to generate activity is probably self-defeating. Yes, I know that the Brits and the Aussies have their foundation tickets, but we're talking about the good old US of A here. Frankly, I don't think that our operators would abide with the limitations of a "Foundation" type license. This opinion is based on what I've been hearing since, OH I don't know... About 1990 or so.

Lets stick with the three levels that currently exist.

Personally, since the original poster wanted opinions, I would do away with the tech license altogether and simply change it to a novice-type ticket with limited HF and VHF privileges. The much maligned novice ticket provided a valuable learning field for the newbies. It also provided places where the new ham could experience HF propagation and learn from the mistakes that newbies invariably make.

This subject has been beaten to death many times since I first became a not-so-humble novice back in 1987, and not always for the better.

Lets quit tweaking the system, (or at least trying to) and just live with what we have now, OK?

Would that be too difficult?

73 Gary

[KI6USW]

10m/SSB is a fine privilege all on its own with the tech ticket. 6m, 2m, and 70cm along with that is a lot. I thought that was a lot on my plate to get right after I got my tech ticket. Understanding antennas, repeaters, and band allocations along with a myriad other details is a lot w/o an Elmer. I know it was for me. Becoming a General ticket holder has put a smorgasbord in front of me. I enjoy my meals without over eating.

Making it too easy to acquire without continuously developing the interest leads to less respect.

The testing could be a bit more practical though. Looking back recently, I thought it left something to be desired.

[W5TTW]

I'm all for it, on the condition that they can send/copy CW at 13 WPM.

[AB2T]

Okay. Seems like the "no" has it. That's cool.

Personally, I have mixed feelings about Incentive Licensing. Who doesn't? It's strange or sad (not really sure which) that legislation which was passed in the mid 1960's continues to have such a profound influence on American ham radio almost 50 years later. I don't consider getting the "20 wpm Extra" anywhere near as significant as my professional achievements. I'm glad for the knowledge to operate code and the basic technical knowledge I've learned, but I wouldn't be angry at all if the FCC decided to give Generals and Advanceds all the frequencies Extras have. That would anger most hams, so I don't go there. It's sad, though, that hamdom will never really have a true discussion about our examination system because of all the emotions that surround the issue.

I only suggested that Techs get some space on the WARC bands because of underutilization. We fought for and won the WARC bands. We earned them only to neglect much of the bandwidth. 10 is also underutilized in some segments. We won't lose these bands since they're not desired by industry or the military. Still, anybody who's got the privileges to use these bands and has the gear should! If I could put up a beam, I'd get on 12 phone just to get others to use it even though I'm a boring and pedantic conversation partner. Eh, at least there'd be a CQ.

Let's try to keep it chill. 73,
Jordan

[AB2T]

I'm all for it, on the condition that they can send/copy CW at 13 WPM.

Your avatar is sort of um, don't know what to say. It looks like the hand will get carpal tunnel in no time.

73, Jordan

[W0UZR]

I voted no. I would have voted yes it you said 10, 12, and 15 meters. 12 and 15 are the bands that need more activity. I mostly never hear anything on 12. But them hogging up 17 meters? Nope

[KB9BVN]

Although Techs have limited CW privileges on 80 and 40, realistically most Techs will only have 28.300 to 28.500 as their HF experience. Allowing Techs one or two more bands might not only relieve 28.300 -- 28.500 congestion but also get hams of all licenses to use underutilized bandwidth.

I'm actually not a phone operator. Still, all bands, including the unused space on 10m and the phone WARCs, should be used frequently. Maybe I'd be against this idea if I operated phone more than CW.

73, Jordan

I see no reason to expand the HF ability for Technician class licensees, and you make my point right here. Technician class license holders are not utilizing all the privileges they already have, so why give them more? The General Exam is so simple 8 year olds are passing it in numbers. There is no need to expand the band for this license class when upgrading is so simple.

[N1JGE]

65% said no and there's really no reason for it. Too many I had to do it that way and you ask yourselves why techs lose interest or you just don't give a darn about them. Nobody is asking for a hand out just the experience to make them good operators. Assigning bands and modes that have little activity doesn't help. Sorry I'm a great beliver that all modes and all band should be available to everyone, it's not rocket science, it's just a radio.