HamRadioNow: That ARRL Entry Level License Survey

As is your choice which I support. Do you think we need a smaller test pool ,or a new "entry" level license?

Or is the current system adequate?

 

Thanks, I look forward to enjoying APRS.

 

Are you setting me up to be ridiculed if I answer that?
Actually no. It is fine the way we have it for the most part. I would only change 1 thing but I don't think I will go there cause it ain't going to happen and would cause me to be ridiculed if I said it. On this thread if you voice an opinion you are just putting a big red target on your back.

 

John,

No, it does not make you a bad ham, and that is not what I am stating. I wanted to stress the point. That collectively as a group, there is a higher expectation from the Commission, that licenses are earned. They are not just granted, just because we have a desire to talk on the radio. There also is an expectation, that a level of expertise and knowledge accompanies the privilege of possessing an amateur license. Based on your past work, you possess the prerequisite knowledge, skills, and abilities, and earned your amateur license, in accordance with the regulations.

If the FCC decides to change the basis and purpose, then perhaps my point if view will change as well, but the regulations are clear.

73'

 

The only thing I would change is to give Techs a better HF option by adding one more HF band for phone which unlike 10 meters would be more reliable and more typical of HF operation. A small portion of phone on the right HF band would inspire people to upgrade, IMO. And there is nothing wrong with having an opinion.

 

I think the current exams are easy and fairly simple. I am not sure if a new amateur entry class will really make a difference. It is how to make this hobby more interesting to younger people. I am now old just turned 50, but have very young kids. I take my four year old to the ham meetings, bought him a baofeng and tune to FRS channel 3 and we play in the neighborhood on our bikes communicating with each other. We talk about science, solar system, radio waves, the ionosphere, and many topics. He loves these topics. I think to get into to this hobby it starts with early introduction. The tie in to IT is a another key. Someone mentioned IoT and someone else mentioned arduino and raspberry pi. Kids are experimenting with these devices. Kids are programming now in pre-K and early elementary. There is a tie in to our technical based hobby.

 

Most certainly true. You are obviously part of the quality parents that are now a minority in the current culture. Keep up the excellent work.

 

No, I was just curious

 

Maybe a late start isn't a bad thing after all.

 

Teens to say 25-30. Their faces are CONSTANTLY stuck in their "smart" phones. They are too busy "Facebooking" or "snapchatting: or "Instagramming" to be bothered with anything else.

Go to a college and look at the students walking in between classes for an example. Or walk through a mall or store. I'm surprised more people aren't falling down stairs or getting hit by cars.

 

I think we need to realize that ham radio in comparison to smart phones is archaic. The smart phone is currently the ultimate portable radio and while the network is up it has global access, it can do live streaming video, it can do packet, it can store data, pretty much anything and it's smaller than a 2 meter HT. I see now how we are trying to use some of that technology with things like hot spots for digital radio and the internet, we have already incorporated the internet into our networks for various reasons. Ham radio is not the cutting edge of technology, it is a relic.

We need to look at how others outside of this hobby see it. Ham radio is for geeks not normal people and if we look back it always has been. And today many of the new young geeks are into far more capable stuff than we ever saw growing up, and they are also programming it. In comparison how do you think they see our radios?.. perhaps like we see old mobile phones.

Having said this I think the hobby is great fun and valuable, but I also like CW keys when most people my age think they are like our hobby, also archaic and something to be seen in a museum, just like the kids of today seeing old mobile phones which are now also in museums. If there is ever a global catastrophe ham radio will be worth it's weight in gold but I hope that never happens, but if that does happen the king of that will be solar powered QRP CW simply because of the math, and we don't have a requirement for CW anymore.

 

Ok that is fair. There is actually 2 things I would change (I think). Give Techs somewhere to talk voice that is a usable frequency with the propagation we now have so they can enjoy getting to talk HF and I would still make one class of license that requires knowing code to get it. CW is not dead on the ham bands so why not have one to work for that requires you to pass a CW test. I thought it was fun to learn CW to get my license many years ago. Of course I learned it in the high school class room. Ham radio was just part of the electronics curriculum back then. Of course having a big fancy Heath Kit station sitting in the room gave me a lot of incentive cause I wanted to use that station. I didn't like just watching others us it.

Just my opinion but I am not going to go out and lobby for it. No one that has any power to change things would care what I thought anyway. So I just go with the flow.
John, WB0MPB

 

I think the point is the size of the deposit is irrelevant to the ultimate success of the transaction. More important is the ability and willingness to make the payments over time.

In this case, the "large deposit" is in rote electronics knowledge which is mostly not directly applicable to the function of a radio operators license.

Age isn't relevant either; sure, the current entry level can be mustered up by many. But achieving it does little to promote their success in enabling and enjoying operation in the future.

IF through a more efficient entry exam they do get OTA for a taste of it, and remain so beyond the initial rush, they will seek to attain the knowledge needed to remain licensed and/or advance. That's the definition of "incentive licensing".

73 de John WØPV

 

I predict in the not-too-distant future amateur radio service "HT's will appear that look like today's Smartfones.

They will be SDR's with many of the same capabilities as fones, ie, based on popular mobile OS's, ability to run popular apps offline, BT and WiFi, perhaps even able to connect via a subscribed or pay-as-you-go telco wireless network.

But they will also have the unique capability of being enabled to xmit on ham bands as well, after obtaining a verification token of a proper license of course, with potentially "free" air time.

ALL modes, legacy analog, but especially digitally, to local repeaters and MESH network nodes. HF- VHF- UHF- SHF. From CW to broadband.

Even able to connect to a huge independent (amateur) world-wide wireless web 24/7 through terrestrial links to an eventual constellation of geo-synchronous amateur radio satellite service birds.

Just look at the size of an Elecraft KX-2 and rethink the packaging, peripherals and programming.

 

Trying to offer up ham radio to someone is like offering meatloaf to a rabbit. You either want it or you don't. Can anyone prove there's even interested people who might jump on a "dumbed down" exam? Other than freight drivers or preppers maybe CB operators; I don't see any interest. Field Day yields very little interest from the public and kids could care less about radio (Hell they don't even play outdoors).