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ARRL Proposal to Give Technicians More Operating Privileges

Discussion in 'Amateur Radio News' started by NW7US, Apr 10, 2019.

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  1. AB3QD

    AB3QD Ham Member QRZ Page

    While the Tech license is intended to introduce people to the hobby many people have no want to upgrade.
    I find that many techs are not interested in upgrading because they didn't really get in to ham radio as a "hobby". Some get a license to supplement other interests such as emergency services, communications while hiking, hunting, flying ultralights etc. or just because they can talk to their buddies while traveling around like CB with more range, thanks to repeaters. Some people get a Tech license because their "significant other" is in to the hobby as well as their friends but they are not "into" HF or radio as a hobby. Many get a tech license as part of electronics training and never use it at all or they use for "experimenting" in conjunction with other technologies. Many never use their license but keep it active with the intent of getting in to the hobby when they get "time".
    I have talked to several people that got back in to the hobby in later years and then upgraded. Myself I started to study for a license in 1972. I finally took the test in 2012 and passed tech, general and extra at one sitting and bought a used HF rig a few days later. It was a bucket list thing and due to a health issue I had a few weeks to study. As I edge toward retirement I expect I will become more active.
    As for adding more privileges for Techs I just don't see the need. If we want to "sell" HF then the clubs and Elmering is what will do it.
     
  2. W7UUU

    W7UUU Director, QRZ Forums Lifetime Member 133 QRZ HQ Staff Life Member QRZ Page

    Oh... OK. yeah, that's just too hard and stuff.

    Yeah it should just be free. My bad. Sorry. Here I just thought it was 50 questions to get Extra.


    :rolleyes:


    Dave
    W7UUU
     
  3. KC1LEP

    KC1LEP Ham Member QRZ Page

    I'll be honest, I read the first page of the post and didn't read any further, no need in my opinion....I've been away from the hobby for almost 20 years. I recently relicensed back to a general. I started in the hobby as a no-code tech (but learned code and got my general) in 1992 so I understand the appeal of entering the hobby under relaxed licensing requirements. The state of affairs of the bands nowadays (flagrant jamming of legitimate conversations people disagree with, profanity, out of band operation, cb lingo, lack of station identifications, "owning" frequencies - especially 160M and 80M) is appalling. When I stop and look at what transpired over the last 20 years in my absence, the dumbing down of license requirements and elimination of code requirements sure seems like it is the direct cause. When I was getting my no-code, the class I took was filled with local CB riffraff (and I say riffraff not because they use CB, but because they conducted themselves as such - one 40 year old guy actually showed up at my parents house looking to get into a fist fight with my 14 year old self because he was having an issue with someone in the area and saw my antenna and assumed it was me). Sure, they got their no-code licenses...As I got back into the hobby and QRZ, I looked them all up - not a single one renewed their license after their original license, and nobody local has ever heard them operate anywhere, never seen them at a club meeting, field day, or other event. How did this help overall licensing and retention? Dumbing down the hobby for the sake of increasing licensing and enrollment is preposterous...remember, CB radio once required a license - we are retrogressing to where ham radio is nothing more than licensed CB radio. People talk about enrollment and the future state of the hobby - here I am - the 1993 Hiram Percy Maxim Memorial award winner for advancement of the hobby of ham radio in an operator under the age of 18 - engaged in the hobby again and utterly dismayed by the conditions that have been allowed to develop. It would be far better to have a field of operators who love the hobby, want to advance it and themselves/skill than higher numbers of operators of numbers sake. I decided to relicense because I started working on refurbishing a Heathkit SB-200 and got hooked again on the technical aspect of the hobby, rebuilding and learning about tank circuits, tube circuits, power supplies, etc - the origins of ham radio - experimentation and advancement of technical skills. No-code tech was created to allow people to get into the hobby without needing to learn code but restricted them to novice HF allocations and VHF/UHF - FOR A REASON - if you want better privileges - EARN THEM. At the very least, it looks like any additional HF spectrum for techs will be CW only so people will need to learn code to use them...what a waste of energy. Does the ARRL think all of these operators are going to run out an learn code? I guess they haven't learned from their past mistakes....Actually as I wrote that last line, it dawned on me - they don't even need to learn code, just get a translator....it wont be long before 3.850MHz is called channel 19....PROTECT OUR HOBBY FOR THOSE THAN WANT TO MOVE IT FORWARD, NOT FIND LOOPHOLES AND MOVE BACKWARDS.
     
    WB0MQA, W1RDT and WN1MB like this.
  4. KC8UD

    KC8UD Ham Member QRZ Page

    If we continue to water down the tests, remove CW requirement and extend more privileges to introduction level licenses then soon all the amateur bands will become a BIG 10-4. :mad:
     
    WB0MQA and W9RAC like this.
  5. NN4RH

    NN4RH Premium Subscriber QRZ Page

    The point that you seem to have missed, is that it is 50 questions selected randomly from a pool of 500+. You really need to know the whole pool. Or at least 70% of the whole pool, if you're a gambler. If you only memorize (or "know") the answers to 50 of the questions, then chances are overwhelming that the 50 selected that day for your test will not be the 50 you're prepared for.

    So it's really a 500+ question test you need to prepare for.
     
    N4AAB, N2EY and WU8Y like this.
  6. W7UUU

    W7UUU Director, QRZ Forums Lifetime Member 133 QRZ HQ Staff Life Member QRZ Page

    Of course. But once upon a time, we considered it worthwhile to learn stuff to earn the benefits knowing that stuff would bring.

    Now it appears to be such a burden that the only recourse is we must change the laws to just give those benefits out for free or nearly so.

    Amazingly sad how low expectations have fallen.

    Dave
    W7UUU
     
    WB0MQA, K4XJ, WG7X and 2 others like this.
  7. N2EY

    N2EY Premium Subscriber QRZ Page

    11,000, you say? Sorry, that's way too high

    http://www.arrl.org/fcc-license-counts

    says that as of Wednesday, April 10, 2019, there were 8159 current, unexpired Novice licenses held by individuals. Novices now account for about 1.06% of US hams. That's down from about 50,000 back in April 2000.

    See the trends here:

    https://www.eham.net/ehamforum/smf/index.php/topic,70322.0.html

    Nothing. No Novice will lose or gain anything if the proposal is enacted - except an added incentive to upgrade to Technician.

    Ah...no.

    There are only 8159, not 11,000. Of those, only a fraction are ARRL members. It is unknown how many will drop membership if the proposal is enacted.

    The Novice was closed to new issues way back in April 2000 - 19 years ago! FCC said then that there was no reason to keep issuing new Novice, Technician Plus and Advanced licenses, and that those license classes would be phased out. The Technician Plus was phased out by renewing all Tech Pluses as Technicians, while the Novice and Advanced are being phased out by attrition.

    Anyone who still holds a Novice or Advanced license today has been licensed for at least 19 years. Why not upgrade?
     
    AC0GT, WU8Y and N4AAB like this.
  8. K4KYV

    K4KYV Premium Subscriber Volunteer Moderator QRZ Page

    Before Incentive Licensing, there was no Advanced class test. Just as it is now, it was a "grandfathering" holdover from a previous licence structure that was discontinued, but without taking an existing licence away from those who already held it prior to the change. General class licensees enjoyed all amateur privileges on all amateur bands. The next higher grade was the Extra, which accorded no additional privileges other than a certificate of pride and accomplishment to hang on to the wall (it actually came with a commercial-like certificate issued by the FCC). At that time, the Amateur Extra truly was an elitist class by the true definition of the word, hence the name "Extra", nothing wrong with that.

    The Amateur Extra exam comprised 100 questions plus the 20 wpm code test. When incentive licensing was enacted circa 1968, the 100-question Extra exam was divided into two 50-question parts. 50 of those questions were reassigned to make up the reinstated Advanced class test, while the remaining 50 were kept for the Extra class exam. There was no additional code test in the Advanced exam. The new Advanced class licence was created to be a half-step towards the Extra. To upgrade from General to Extra, one had to pass the Advanced questions before being allowed to try for the Extra, regardless, so the General still had to pass the same 100 question test to get to Extra.

    The current crop of Advanced class licensees have theoretically passed only half the Extra class test. I haven't paid that close attention to it since I already hold Extra class, but it wouldn't surprise me if the original post-incentive licensing Advanced test were found to be more comprehensive and difficult than the present-day Extra. I recall when I took my Extra in 1963, the written part had questions very similar to ones in the First Class Radiotelephone exam that I had taken the same day, some of them verbatim. There were no published Q-A pools back then. The best we had was the ARRL Licence Manuals, as well as others like the Ameco and later, the Dick Bash study guides.

    As I recall, even the Bash books were a study guide that included a brief explanation of why each correct choice was the correct one, unlike the present-day published Q-A pools.
     
    WB0MQA, WQ4G and N4AAB like this.
  9. N4AAB

    N4AAB Ham Member QRZ Page

    And older hams wonder why new hams don't happen. Many of the responses in this thread are a prime example of why.

    If I hadn't been determined to get licensed, many people here and the club I tried to join before I moved, certainly did a number of things to discourage me.

    We no longer have spark gap transmitters, so many of you 'don't change anything' are past the time when changes happened.

    Techs should have voice privs below 2m. It cannot get any worse than the alleged adult behaviors I hear on 40m and 80m.
     
    WU8Y likes this.
  10. N2EY

    N2EY Premium Subscriber QRZ Page

    Because Advanceds haven't passed all the written tests that Extras have passed.

    Why? Why not just pass the Extra test?

    No, it wasn't. As @K4KYV has pointed out, the Advanced and Extra written tests were never the same. The Extra code test was 20 wpm until April 2000, then 5 wpm, then it was removed in 2007. Plus, from 1990 to 2000, there were medical waivers for those with a doctor's note.

    No, they didn't.

    See above.

    Nope. It's because Advanceds haven't passed the written tests that Extras have.
     
    W5CJA likes this.
  11. AE2B

    AE2B Ham Member QRZ Page

    I was in the advanced portion of 20 m. some time last year. Calling CQ a station came back to me his call looked new I looked it up he was a tech. I told him we cant speak you cant be on HF. . His answer to me was GO ( F ) YOURSELF ill talk where I want. So this does not get my vote.
     
    W0IW, KC1DR, K4XJ and 3 others like this.
  12. NN4RH

    NN4RH Premium Subscriber QRZ Page

    I said nothing about burden or worthwhile.

    All I'm doing is pointing out that the mantra of "35 question test" or "50 question test" is at best disingenuous. If anything, in my view, it potentially insults the intelligence of those Techs who know better. It's no wonder so many new hams are so down on older hams, calling them "elitists" and so on.
     
    N4AAB likes this.
  13. KA4DPO

    KA4DPO Platinum Subscriber Platinum Subscriber QRZ Page

    And that happens all too frequently. The FCC doesn't care about amateur radio, they only care about the big money interests. This latest push to allow techs to use SSB and digital on HF
    is just another scheme by the ARRL to increase their bank account. Given that the test to obtain a general class license is already amazingly easy, this is one of the most stupid proposals I have seen in years.
     
    W0IW, WB0MQA and WQ4G like this.
  14. KD5RJZ

    KD5RJZ Ham Member QRZ Page

    LOL, I would love to know how.

    All this will give us is more emcom whackers and email service subscribers, not hams.
     
    KA4DPO likes this.
  15. AB2RA

    AB2RA Ham Member QRZ Page

    We miss you, Wayne (73 magazine for those of you new to ham radio)
     
    W0IW and KC7JNJ like this.

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