Joseph,
There is a wonderful message in your ham radio story about hard work,
perseverance and the pride of accomplishment. I applaud your efforts and
enjoyed your relating your viewpoint to us all.
I would like to point out, though, that in today's testing world the Q & As
are now published for the written exams and the code tests do not
require 1-minute copy, only answering 7/10 multiple-guess questions
correctly. Anyone, with a simple technique, can pass the writtens all
the way up to Extra without retaining a bit of it and in a very, very
short time.
The code tests really translate into something like 4-5
wpm less on the air. Thus, a 12 wpm requirement could be passed by
someone who, under the standards you met, could only copy about
7-8 wpm. In fact, I know of at least one person who passed the General
code test by simply taking it about 10 times until he had memorized and
guessed his way through it, not being able to copy the letter 'e' at any
speed.
Anyway, this is all to say that the ARRL first tried to sell more
subscriptions and bump up their ad revenue by making it a no-brainer
to get access to VHF bands and made it easier to get on HF than
in your days of license exams. Has that made ham radio more
successful in their philosophy (motivated by $)? No. They are losing
money. So, now they make another desperate attempt by applying
the same failed lesson to open up the HF bands even further, taking
away bandspace from CW and further dumbing down the requirements
for entry (and this against the wishes of the majority in their own polls).
Anyone with a General Class license now will undoubtedly be grandfathered
in to the 12 wpm requirement and they only need pass a test for which
the answers are published to have full access to our dwindling CW bands.
Wistfully proposing that there be some sort of 20 wpm requirement for the
bottom 25 KHz of the bands is not going to get anything done. This entire
proposal should be sent back to whence it came. It is only one more step
towards turning the HF bands into another segment of CB radio.
73,
Casey, KS7J
> -----Original Message-----
> From: Joseph T. Price-O'Brien [SMTP:pob@vt.edu]
> Sent: Wednesday, July 22, 1998 2:47 PM
> To: Ten-Tec Reflector
> Subject: [TenTec] ARRL Proposal
>
>
> From the viewpoint of an obviously biased Amateur Extra Class Operator,
> I humbly submit my comments to the T-T reflector. I know that there are
> some of you who will agree and, no doubt, many who will disagree, but
> this is an open forum and I am not trying to invite an argument as much
> as I am simply expressing my opinion.
>
> Like many of you, I followed the natural path from Novice, to General,
> to Advanced and finally Extra between 1973 and 1975, stopping at each
> level to learn what I needed to proceed to the next higher level. When
> I thought I was ready for my Extra Class license, already an Electronics
> Technician in the U.S. Navy, I studied the theory requirements and I
> thought I had enough experience with CW to maybe scrape by the "one
> minute solid" rule in place at that time. A little after 7 a.m. one
> Thursday morning, at the FCC's Field Office in Norfolk, I put my pencil
> to the paper and started copying pretty well until a nearly constant
> string of dits spelling out "SHIPS AT SEA IN DISTRESS" (this specific
> passage was unknown to me at that time) bleeped its way out of the
> paper-tape driven Morse code generator in the classroom and I lost track
> of everything that followed and I never managed to get back in sync. In
> 1975, you were not given partial credit, nor were you allowed to
> continue to the theory part of the exam if you failed the CW test.
>
> One month later, more CW proficient than ever (thanks to discovering CW
> traffic handling nets, namely the Virginia Slow Net and the Virginia
> Net), I once again found myself at the FCC office, pencil to paper.
> This time I copied more than my "one minute solid" share of CW and
> confidently looked forward to my theory exam. What I didn't realize was
> that I didn't possess adequate knowledge to pass the theory exam and so
> I could only look forward to returning a month later, again receiving
> zero credit for having successfully passed the CW test.
>
> In June of 1975, having orders to the island of Adak, in the Aleutians,
> with an arrival date of early July, I visited the FCC office again. By
> now I had a lot of CW practice, attending the VSN and VN as often as
> possible with the only goal of improving my proficiency enough to be
> able to pass the CW test at the FCC. Imagine my surprise, pencil to
> paper, as my hand traced out the words, "SHIPS AT SEA IN DISTRESS",
> reminding me of what had caused me so much distress at my first attempt
> to pass my Extra. I laughed aloud, which worried the General Class
> wannabees (Novices and Technicians) terribly since the FCC's modus
> operandi was to send the code at 20 wpm, rewind the tape and resend it
> at 13 wpm, so they were well aware that what I was laughing at was
> theirs next to copy. Needless to say, after having failed the theory
> exam the previous month, I spent my free time between the VSN and the VN
> studying the Extra Class exam manual, hoping that I could remember
> enough to pass. The extra time paid off and I was rewarded with my
> Extra Class license shortly after I arrived on Adak.
>
> I can't say that getting to Extra Class was easy and I think that my
> hard work and determination to finally succeed were rewarded by becoming
> one of the minority classes who had access to every frequency available
> to Radio Amateurs. How did this benefit me as a Ham? When I was a
> Novice, I was always very careful to stay within my band limits, not
> wanting a "pink slip" from an eagle-eyed O.O. When I became a General,
> I still had the same problem, operating an HW-101, with its 5 kHz tick
> marks on the VFO dial, not wanting to operate outside my license's
> privileges.
>
> By the time I became an Advanced, I had pretty much figured out where I
> could operate and didn't worry as much, but when I got my Extra I knew
> that all I'd have to worry about was being outside of the band, and not
> a particular segment. Also, by that time, my interests had changed from
> SSB to CW so I didn't have to keep remembering where the CW bands ended
> and the phone bands began since I spent most of my time in the bottom 75
> kHz of any band that I operated. I think that was one of the most
> rewarding aspects of becoming an Extra, not having to worry anymore.
>
> I don't disfavor allowing HF privileges to anyone, solely based on their
> ability to copy Morse code at any speed. Twelve words per minute is
> difficult enough to achieve that those who truly desire access to
> expanded HF privileges will manage to upgrade. For our hobby to enjoy a
> fruitful future, in light of our ever-changing societal trends, it can't
> be too restrictive or we will drive potential supporters away, "willing"
> the hobby to a dwindling bunch of curmudgeons like myself. What I do
> disfavor is allowing those same folks access to one particular segment
> on 80, 40, 20, and 15 meters, the highly desirable "DX window" known as
> the "bottom 25". Should these operators enjoy CW enough that they wish
> to enhance their enjoyment by having access to the existing Amateur
> Extra CW segment, then I think they should be required to pass a 20 word
> per minute CW exam, much like the "one minute solid" variety, to prove
> their true CW proficiency and not just their ability to guess the
> answers to a series of multiple choice questions. As far as the Extra
> Class exclusive phone segments, I think you can already guess what my
> feelings are about their future disposition.
>
> 72/73/88 -- OBIE, WA4DOX...
> --
> mailto:wa4dox@vt.edu
>
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