Peter N5UWY wrote:
> Now the ARRL wants the FCC to upgrade Techs again by adding
> data modes to that expanded HF CW spectrum again with no
> additional testing.
>
> What is the point of having different classes of licenses if we
> simply keep moving privileges down into what is supposed to be
> the entry-level class?
Perhaps that's one of the reasons someone (formerly?) at the FCC speculated on
eventually only having one license class.
Personally, I view the proposed expansion of privileges as one possible
response to two questions:
1. Why don't more techs upgrade...or even become active?
2. Are the old novice band HF CW privileges an anachronism in an era where code
is not a prerequisite to licensing / where new CW ops generally get interested
in code only after spending some time on HF?
If one possible answer to the first question is "they get stuck on 2m and never
have their potential interest in HF whetted", and if new hams are learning code
only after being exposed to HF.... updating the novice-like privileges to be
more digital-focused rather than CW-focused makes a certain amount of
sense....even if I'm dreading the mess that a gung-ho non-elmered tech could
cause if they had access to a few popular frequencies.
The current arrangement seems backward: "you can try HF and see if it interests
you if you operate CW...but you probably aren't going to learn code until
you've discovered you're interested in HF".
I don't know that the concept will actually prove successful...but it should be
a bit easier to identify and perhaps coach a messy "novice digital" op than it
is to identify an Winlink operator who didn't bother to listen before
initiating a Pactor or Winmor call.
--
Michael Adams | N1EN | mda@n1en.org
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