The ARRL Letter, Vol 26, No 04

Steve

Being as you did all your schooling in the late 70s and through the 80s (re your claim to be 41 above).... I think you should perhaps recant several of your poor attempts at false implications of mine or Keith's education, political leanings, and character... You sir are so dead wrong about either of us you sound very foolish....


You could also do me one other courtesy....try and read what I write, for comprehension....

And I will be so bold as to say that both Keith and I do NOT advocate elimination of relevant and thorough examination of the required skills and knowledges for a US citizen to be granted a Federal Amateur Radio Operators License.

But it is very true...many of us...many more that just Keith and I, question the current licensing scheme and much of it's relevance.

If you perceive that to be a threat to your personal self actuilization...sorry...seems that is entirely your cross to bear

 

There's no recanting necessary when it come to Keith -- for I'm dead on.

I've been reading and following his rants for months or years -- my great intuitive abilities easily set him apart from the crowd; I know his kind.

I actually wish I had time to converse with you about your thoughts posted earlier, for I do see discussion merit.

Oh... one more thing. My self actualization happened on Active Duty -- by doing great things and never asking for them. I didn't and don't play games or much politics, and call it like I see it. I sleep very well at night, thank you very much.

Best Wishes.

 

Too bad Steve, you sound like a good guy but you seem to be much too invested in tilting at windmills, sir.

Changing world ...yes!

Some PC, secular progressive direction, sure enough!

But the destruction of traditional values and life as we know it??  Hardly!

The ARS has survived much bigger changes and will weather this minor storm just fine... IMO

I think you, too frequently, manage to cobble together very troubling and divisive words, sir...

Really not worthy of the energy and sacrifice you have expended defending this great nation... Is it not true that for about half of your life, so far, you were part of important teams and sought to find solutions to problems?.... Did you appreciate that jerk in the corner that was the eternal pessimist? I sure did not!

I am not implying you need shrug your shoulders and move on....  I Do think for the last three or four years you have loudly and longly banged the lazy, dumbed down, drum...

It is old, not entirely true, and is a very divisive attitude....

Especially at a time when the ARS needs to gather together as a congenial fraternity and stave off the real peril that is still to come...

73

Now if you will excuse me I need to try memorizing more of the 665 questions and answers so I can qualify for no code Extra tomorrow morning...

JOKE...tweak!

I have been studying my fanny off for the last six months. But I do intend tomorrow morning to pass the General (again) and do better then 80% on the Extra (my self actualization goal) and climb on HF 80m for the very first time tomorrow afternoon

 

Good luck with testing.

I've always been the troubleshooter -- the technician, planner, engineer -- the one with the Dilbert "techie" knack. I am the "fix-it" person and the "do-er". I have a keen sense of smelling BS in most every situation, especially telecom related issues. I am not the politician or high-level manager blowing smoke, those usually causing catastrophes I end up fixing down the road. With this background and keen intuition, it's been easy to spot ham radio's political rats endlessly scurrying about these the last couple of years.

Anyway, "Amateur Radio" will survive -- but morph -- as it is now. BTW, it never really needed more people, just the right and willing technical sort. Will it be recognizable in ten or twenty years -- given the watered-down, non-technical, entrance requirements we've allowed? I really doubt it. It's a shame for me, after investing so much in this avocation for over 26 years.

I do believe it's time to spend a VAST majority of my free time with my family, and take up more family-related, outdoor related activities, like hiking in the summer and snow-machining in the winter (that's snowmobiling in the lower-48). My specific ham related technical interests are winding down, pretty much in-sync with the older, technically adept hams -- as they wind down their lives. The commonalities between the less-technical newcomers and myself aren't there.

The traditional hobby I knew has been hijacked -- and there's nothing I or the old-timers' can do about it now.

Supposedly, it's the way of things -- entropy in action. It's time to move on and/or narrow my focus to one or two aspects I occasionally find enjoyable (HF CW).

I'll shrug my shoulders now...

Oh, you mentioned I have been less-than-truthful? In what way -- I'd like to hear it. In my own defense and to my potential detriment, I have always bared my true thoughts and beliefs (soul) here, and have never held back. Again, I sleep well at night. No worries, mate.

GL es 73 de NL7W

 

Advice: Don't cram for the Extra -- learn and comprehend the material presented.

That reminds me of what I considered a much harder ham test... I do remember putting my new algebra skills to use in order to pass the Advanced when I was 16-years old.

GL.

 

Steve

Thanks for the kind words, I will be leaving for the VE session in a few and when I return I will be at least a General/AG

Re- your truthfulness

I am sorry if you inferred that notion, not at all what I wanted to convey

My main beef with your postings has been to constant bemoaning of the "morphing" from a technical service to a CB like service....

I think you are wrong in that assessment or prediction.  I think that growing the ARS requires the aged Hams to be the adults. This hobby is at it's best when the knowledge, experience, and moral compass of the seasoned Amateurs is transfered to the neophites.....

Lamenting, in public, the demise of society and the ARS the way you any many of your peers do here on the QRZed is counter productive in my opinion...

Many of you guys have managed to widen the gap and create animosity unnecessarily with your over broad charge that being Anti Morse Code testing is indicative of a lazy, whinny, dumbed down bunch of me-first gimme gimme crowd.

In the next months and years are potentially thousands of American citizens who will be introduced to the ARS. A majority of them will have never known about the Element 1 issue.  It is patently unfair to imply that they are lesser Amateurs because of your beliefs. I believe many of them will review the public musings of folks like you and I and become discouraged or angry.

This is likely to turn many otherwise good members away.

You can insist that quality over quantity is more important and in a certain sense you are correct....

However to stem the current SK vs newbie ratios (loosing faster then gaining) we need to induct, train, and grow new blood in order to stay viable as a service/hobby.

I see anything that thwarts that need as not good and, like you, feel strongly enough about this dynamic to speak out loud and long in opposition to folks like you and your peers who think we are devolving into a CB like abyss

 

Welcome to HF all techs and congrats to KD5NCO for upgrading to General and others who upgraded to General/Amateur Extras. Have fun and remember you are no diffrent than the rest of us. Like I said CODE DON'T MAKE THE HAM, you make who you are on the bands. And do what you can to protect our bands from them evil BPL providers, and get on and talk to us old crumdungs and enjoy the freedom from having to do code thanks to the FCC. RIP Morse requirement, but Code isn't dead it is still in use and you can still learn and use it.

73
AD7BK "Amateur Extra-lite 5-wpm going 13-wpm now"

 

AD7BK

Thank you sir.... The VE session closest to me was in a small Central Texas town of Burnet. The Highland Lakes Amateur Radio Club conducting the upgrade/testing session did a good job of handling the MUCH larger then expected crowd.

All weekend long; on local 40 and 80 meter nets, QSO parties, and round tables that I joined in on, the indications were all similar.... many many testing sessions were mildly to heavily crowded.... One report has the Orange Ham fest testing session churning out around 250 licenses