MEANINGFUL ENTRY-LEVEL LICENSE PRIVILEGES

k0rgr-well sir you could Be Right on this , But think for a min,if they (fcc) dont drop the code for xtra to ,it will Be Back next year ,like it has in the past , so I think the Best thing to do is get Rid of it now and the code problem will Be gone for good , and I think the fcc wants to do that ,and I agree with the fcc 100% we need to move on to Bigger and better things ,73 Bill

 

Hello all. After reading thru this post I would like to give my 2 cents worth. Being a young ham (25 years old) that has had my license since Sept 1992 at age 11 and obtaining my extra class in early 1994 I have a different perspective on some problems this hobby has that can keep certain people out. Forget all the code/theory aspects. I do agree that for some the code is a big setback. I remember going thru the plateaus and being stuck at 10wpm for the 13wpm general code and even trying to get solid copy for 5 wpm. But those are minor issues. An ex-girlfriend accompanied my to field day one year and after sitting in listening to me working 20wpm cw a while starting picking out the particular sound of my callsign and my exchange info. Guess some have it and some dont. Fine and Dandy on that. Do what you feel you are capable of.
What I think is a great discouragement is the equipment requirement. Not many people can afford the cost of a rig, especially an HF rig. I know there are used alternatives, but even at a few hundred bucks, it can be difficult. Especially for kids. I was a kid asking my parents for a thousand dollar radio to do this stuff. Fortunately for me, they were very supportive and had the ablility to do this for me. Not all are lucky. Even folks that are working and are just barely sneaking by paying the bills and eating. It can be difficult. Antennas are another thing. HF antennas are large, no matter what kind. Wire antennas, yagis, et. al. With the big real estate build up going on, property size is sinking in order to accomidate more homes. So long wires and dipoles are a bit difficult to string up. Verticals are tall and often have "ugly" capacitance hats or coils or what nots sticking off them. Astectics mean alot to some!! As far as yagis, well I don't have to say much there. They are just big. All this can be discouraging to someone new to the hobby and trying to get going. Even to try and statisfy community requirements or even the feelings of their better half! I get a very good understanding of the outside view of this hobby from my girlfriend. As I install new antennas for the various bands I work, she always has an inquisitite question as to why I need this or what does it do and why I need so many different ones to do the same thing.
Within this all, I believe we should have a basic entry level license that gives people a chance to test the waters of everything this hobby has to offer. This way they know what they are getting into. Some people might be happy with an ht and chatting with locals on a repeater or thru an echolink node. And that is fine. As long as we have activity that keeps the freqs. alive, IT'S ALL GOOD. If they like CW, great. But all in all, give people a place start. Let them experience a little of what we enjoy and let them find their calling. If they like it, they will progress to obtain higher classes or full priviledges. It is sad to see this (and everything else) having to be dumbed down because of a lazy and instant gratification society. But the downfall of that is these people pass the test, get on for a few months and move on to something else. Too sad.

73 all
John N3NKC

 

Why even bother with a test? Just pay your fee and wala! instant Extra.

The only thing seperating us from CB is the standards. Take away the standards and we will become CB.

Why would ARRL push this position? Simple. New hams buy ARRL's overpriced publications. Its all about the money, money, money!

W9WHE

 

I'm with you. I believe the whole thing is over selling radios, certainly not the quality, or even the quantity of bodies that use the spectrum. QST's advertisers want to sell the $12,000 radios, not so much the $399 ones. And as everyone should know, the one with the gold makes the rules. I'm afraid the ARRL is a bit bought and paid for in this respect.

 

I'm not sure how pilot licensing works in whatever country you're in, but the FAA requirements typically have you flying "in training" for nearly 60 hours average before you are issued a "private pilot certificate". With that document, you are granted all privileges and access to all airspace afforded the limits granted the certificate. Now, should I want to fly under IFR conditions, I must upgrade my certificate by taking yet another written test, many, many hours of practical flight training, and yet another checkride (final test) before I'm certified to fly under IFR rules. If I want to fly commercially, it starts all over again. Multi-engine? Yet another tier. You may want to re-visit your analogy, as the FAA flight training program is very similar to incentive licensing as it was.

As for a driver's license, that allows you to drive a vehicle up to a certain weight limit. Should you desire to drive a heavier vehicle, it's back to a more intense level of written/training/testing process to get your CDL, or commercial driver's license. Once again, a tiered structure. If all you want is to drive your two meter rig, then a basic driver's license may be all you require. You want to drive a heavy truck, you need to upgrade to CDL.

 

"However, the restructuring of HF privileges for Technicians I can disagree on. For one, it would cloud the whole incentive for upgrading to General, and in essence completely void the General Class license. Giving small increments of added band does not provide incentive in itself to achieve the next level. For many the whole incentive for General is access to HF."

I disagree. I am a tech and am in the process of moving up. I would like to get some HF activity to see what I would like to do beyond the repeaters on VHF. Is PSK for me? How about QRP? How would I know?

By letting techs at least get their feet wet in HF, you will create people who will learn that QRP fits their budget or other interests better, or maybe they get bit by a DX bug. Allowing some small HF activity would be a good way for people to get enthused about the bands and the activities that are on HF.

Also, a big barrier to this hobby is the cost of the gear. I can see a lot of young people with kids not being ABLE to get into the game due to cost. Again, a little HF activity could be done on a rig that would go on into full HF priviledges once the license was upgraded.

 

Folks,  

Somebody please help me understand why getting each other's shoes wet gets anything done for Amateur Radio?
People who know me don't have to guess where I stand on any of these issues, but before any other ego-driven blathering, I try to place the health of the service first.

The conversation about code/no code and incentive licensing got boring years ago. It's time now to guide, direct or cajole our organizations/agencies to act in the very best interests of Amateur radio, and not those of manufacturers, or the fringe on either end of the spectrum.  The Amateur Service lives or dies for all of us, based on how we represent ourselves to the "powers that be", and this kind of unhealthy nattering doesn't represent us well.

Please stop the noise, because that's all it is and do something productive for Amateur Radio!

73,
Casey

 

Its seems very obvious that the league is selling out the hobby in the interest of making more money. Thats what its all about to them. Why bother to have any license exam at all? At the rate they keep lobbying the FCC to dumb it down, very soon it will be multiband CB. Its already well on its way!

 

Here is the wonderful thing about Elmers, upgrading and continuing on in the Amateur Hobby... as a Tech, you CAN get your feet wet by simply finding another General or Extra that is willing to be a control op, and you operated the bands under their call sign. This is also one of the purposes of the GOTA station during Field Day.

Ok, so you want QRP ability. I can live with that. But isnt QRP usually about 5 watts? (ARRL QRP Contesting is limited to 5 watts as per the Nov 2005 Sweepstakes rules) The proposal that the ARRL is pushing is for is 100 watts on the lower HF bands while 50w on 10 Meter. This hardly counts as true QRP operating!

A QRP rig for a single band can be rather inexspensive, comparatively speaking. So if we must give Techs some HF, how about limiting it to 20W, 10W or even 5W? Thus there would still be enough incentive to upgrade to General for the substantial power increase. Not to mention the fact that unless you buy a linear amp, most HF radios on the market today come with only 100-200 watts output power. I always use 100W maximum power myself and I'm an Extra.

My problem with their proposal is the lessening of the incentive to upgrade. Give a taste, but make it a big enough gap to encourage upgrades!

 

I don't think dumbing down or taking away any requirements would help. I feel that we should have left license structures the way they were. Tech plus left many hams with the best of all worlds, Little tidbits of HF for DXing, 6m for "magic" DX, 2m and higher for FM and repeaters. I can see taking out advanced, but I feel we should have the structure the way it was. That was a total and sound solution. But since Morse has not been in use for years and even with the Navy and maritime taking CW out in favor of digital just goes to show where the swing of the times is going. Perhaps we all need to step back and realize this is a hobby. And no matter what, you will always have idiots that try to rain on the parade.

73 John N3NKC

 

Hey FCC & ARRL,

I passed my code, you can leave licensing structure alone now!

Thanks!

 

:0

 

kd5riz-  Hey FCC & ARRL,

I passed my code, you can leave licensing structure alone now                                                                                                                                                                hey hold on dont stop yet I have not passed mind yet ,  thank,sfor not thinking of someone Besides yourself ,73 Bill