The Foundation License

The new brit ticket is one of those "just show up" tickets. Just show up and you get one.Thats been a trend in ham radio for years so what else is new ? Is that much different than a no code tech getting his extra over the weekend here in the usa , as I read abt in qst I think some time back?The majority of  hams wanted to make the exams easy and to do away with code testing. Well, we got it now and all of a sudden the new guys realize they dont have the braggin rights the old timers do So sad, to bad. It will never go back to fcc testing and 20wpm so why waste ones time getting upset over lowered standards ? Thats what the majority wanted and thats they got.

 

Back in the Old Days that people don't like to hear about any more, there used to be a two year (then one year, I believe) "experience requirement" for Extra Class. That is, you couldn't even TAKE the Extra test until you had a General or Advanced for two years first! I guess the thinking was that to qualify for the Extra privs, you needed experience -- something that you can't teach and can't be tested on.

Perhaps now that code tests all but history, and the exam questions and answers can be studied right off the Internet, why not bring back that experience requirement? Then maybe the license will mean something again. Right now, it really doesn't. I doubt I'll get much argument on that. I'm not trying to be hurtful. That's just how it is. If someone can knock out the exam over the weekend as his first ticket, what does it prove?

Anyway, it's what you do and what you learn after you get your ticket that really matters, so why not give folks a couple years of "hands on" before qualifying for the top ticket?

Either that, or just toss out the whole "incentive licensing" structure and make a one-size-fits-all license. Right now, the US license structure doesn't mean much.

Out.

 

My two children are foundation holders. Jade M3 JLT aged 10 and Sammie M3 STT aged 12. We have worked the world together and most nights (when propagation allows) we speak into the USA (14.240) with Walt and friends. I would like to thank Walt and his friends for spending time with us and for the smiles of excitment when we made the first contact. To see that was worth more than money!! You should have seen my kids faces light up!!!!!!!

This is what its all about and not how and why we was able to do it!

Get used to it 5000 new M3s so far and its growing!