ARRL Proposal to Give Technicians More Operating Privileges

My short take on it..in the late 70's i got into it mainly for 2 meters for the adantage of the wide area repeaters for more safety and information on the road and the Novice licence and learnig code was just a way to get there at the time for me. Yea it took time and I pounded a lot of brass to get there but i am glad that i did. But my boss at the time was a former World War II pilot that had been shot down over the Meditaranian and he encouraged me to keep up code and i am glad i did and and i understand why CW is the basis and custom of everything that came after. I still hear CW on the lower ends of the bands and a lot of younger hams are atempting it now? That is good ..I do listen in at times but i actually haven't actually been on the air with CW since I upgraded in 84.. But if they don't need code proficiency anymore them why do they need Ohms law when nearly all radios are Plug and Play and neither do many build their Heathkit anymore? But the basic things like how to program your HT, how digital and SSB works on 10 meters for instsnce and proper usage and procedure on the air evidently seems to be omitted from what i am hearing. What would be needed for today radio and would be more on to operste legaly effectively on the technition privaledges and how to adjust and about the long time customes and procedurs that they will use every day? ....It should be easy to learn. ...easy to pass and ....easy to know what you are doing then..But passing the test and getting the licence is just the very start because Ham radio is always learning or doing something new. From then on i learned from the older experianced hams, my own exeriances and articles written in QST and other ham magizines. I will help others who will listen as i was helped and i welcome all in who have qualified just as I was welcomed in ?? we are all here to help each other

 

I think a lot miss the reason for removing ths code requirement. The arguments i heard back then was we need to replace the older ones dropping out and SK's with new hams to occupy the frequencies in fear comercial services will be able to take the space? It wasn't actually whether we really need or don't need code at all as hopping to drawn in more to Ham Radio? They opened up the segment on 10 meters to Teks in hopes to get more activity there so it isn't setting an unused band? I remember the big scare that we can loose 220 mhz and everyone got a 220 radio that could? The idea of opening new priviledges isn't so much that it is just really needed as for drawing more intrest and more new members in. Now there is encouraging a surge before the fee? But as long as i can remember it has been "Get more members in" (sell more radios?)

 

I would not be a bit surprised if i see just one radio licence some day all right?

 

I was a teck for a few years mainly because it was a 300 mile trip to the FCC office to ugrade but i had a wide area route and met a lot of good peole along the way and would call from some places you would not believe it would work. i had a lot of fun on 2 meters and met a lot of good people and I don't ever remember being mistreated or looked down on. So what is the diferance now? Ham Radio is allways learning and helping and i learned a lot from the older hams and some were former World War radiomen then and to me these good hams were special.. You learn more with your ears than your mouth and i always practice the courtesy and respect to all hams like i was always treated and the same with hams all over the world. I listen to all things. I consider all things and i may try out things for myself. but i never heard another Ham i didn't like..

 

The idea of removing the CW requirement wasn't whether it was needed or not but to entice more new menbers into ham radio. But if you operate your radio properly with courtesy and respect of others then you are doing what you are licenced to do?

 

I think it's more a question of understanding why the code requirement was ever there. In the early days of radio, most important traffic was sent in morse - military, marine emergency and aircraft. The licencing authorities took the view that amateur radio operators needed to have a moderate ability in CW in order to be able to understand if one of those users either needed us to QSY because we were causing interference, or even to take a message because we were the only station that could hear them. With new technologies, the dependence on CW for emergency traffic dropped and by the late nineties, it was pretty much gone - removing any justification for insisting on us having any ability in it.

Martin (G8FXC)

 

In the 50's code was what you could hear on the 41 meter Short Wave broadcast band. Code WAS Radio? I remember it was thought to teach how to recognize SOS in school back then. a couple of my class mates were hams and tried to get me in and i know Mother would have supported because she was always intrested when Hams would help in emergency and help situations here. She had got me a "Boys Life" subsrpiption that had a lot of ham and novice articles in it...My uncle was a radioman on one of the ships that got hit at Pearl harbor but he had volenteered for shore duty giuading an airfield when they came in.. The neighbor at the next farm was a ham and tought me a little bit but work and the coultry lifestyle took preferance. Most of us kids thought we would be getting rich bucking bales in tha hay fields. 25 cents an hour and about 12 hours a day was big time money to us? Yea I should have been in it years before i did in fact a was married with three kids before i got in. I had a wide area route and my first intention was for the safety and information threw wide area 2 meter repeaters around here and Novice and code was just the way to get there then. So I started when CW was Radio but today most start where CB is radio and don't acssociate CW with radio? I started with CB right after we used hand signals and blinking lights out on the road but i listened to the older more exerianced hams and began my continual learning in ham radio from there. But passing a test is only a beginning of a long time learning and CB experiance is a start but ham radio is diferant in nature and more yet to learn.. You have to come in with a learning, respectful and polite attitude to gain a respectful and polite attitude and be willing to consider and learn from each others also..

 

Martin, G8FXC, wrote:

This is spot-on. CW is no longer necessary to safely participate in the hobby. For this reason (among others) it's been eliminated as a licensing requirement in almost all (all?) countries. This should not be surprising to anyone. In Canada, a ham who wishes to be an Accredited Examiner (i.e., a Volunteer Examiner in the United States) is required to pass a 5 wpm exam. The 5 wpm is a legacy examination which allows those who passed with a lesser mark on the written exam to upgrade to HF without Honours. No Canadian ham must pass the 5 wpm for HF access; re-writing the exam is sufficient to earn HF privileges.

On a somewhat unrelated note, I support the Tech license expansion. I suspect that the expansion will bear fruit with the number of operators of computer digital modes. Will Techs upgrade, though? I was a Tech Plus for two years because the Novice CW bands were adequate for my use. When I get back on the air (hopefully soon), I will continue to operate in these bands. There's a lot of great domestic contacts to be had there, and sometimes (perhaps most of the time) I find it more entertaining to chat with a stateside ham than have a 5-10 second contact with DX.

It's important that Technicians who do not want to upgrade be encouraged in the hobby. The expanded privileges might well be enough for many of them.

73, Jordan AB2T

 

I see for those starting now, Radios are Plug and aPlay and not many Heathkit builders anymore?, so why id Ohm'd Law still needed also? Maybe more in operation procedure and how to program their HT and necessary to everyday operation and off to a good start?. I know Ham Radio is ever more learning more after the licence ....but just a thought??

 

I am still not in favor of it. I am not the smartest person out there. If I can past the Extra Test, then the tech should study and past the Gerneral Test.

 

With all the current crap going on in the world and some folks are still worried about this two years later? The public has short term memory. I guess that hams do not.

 

why do we even need a license ? call signs are too complicated and leads to many problems
how about "its Bob in cm88pk /Earth"
is that too geo-political ?

 

Well I was a Tek for around 5 years before i upgraded manly because of time and a 300 mile trip to the FCC Office. But i had a wide area route and meet a lot of people in different areas regularly on 2 meters and enjoyed it. I had met some where the 13 wpm kept them with their efforts into VHF/UHF and were satisfied with it and seemed to be more into SSB , packet and such on 2 meters them. Before cellphone i came up on quite a few accidents and help situations where 2metes often was the only service avalable at the time. But there is so much more you can do with just a Tek license today..73..

 

And I still worry about it because it has the potential to take amateur radio down the drain. If the proposal was passed, then the next logical step would be to forgo licensing altogether. I am more worried about amateur radio becoming CB. And with the current tests as easy as they are, my thought is, if you are going to be licensed to operate a radio station, then you should at least have sufficient knowledge, and self discipline to operate it responsibly.

If you want to be a freebander, go buy a pirate CB rig and a leenyar.

 

Sadly, I think that ship has already sailed. I'm sure you have read the questions posed here from the freshly licensed. I just shake my head. I hope their teeth are ok after getting these licenses out of the Cracker Jack boxes.