"Doug" wrote in
nk.net:

I have 48 years as a ham and have to admit CW has very little
justification, but since ham radio is a hobby, the hobbyist who wants
to use should have a segment for CW only and a minimum testing
requirement to use it there. 73
Doug K7ABX



And, I think that CW only segment is where this phone band jammer should be
confined to stop the jamming. I think, like 160 meters, you'll soon see
the band segregation cease as soon as the old farts who've kept it
segregated for their Extra Class elitist friends becomes moot. We don't
need band segregation, which makes it really hard on the net operators.
14.100-14.150, for instance, is a total waste of bandwidth for US amateurs
as it's a PHONE BAND, dammit, in the rest of the world. How stupid to keep
US hams segregated from it, just like the low end of 40 meters where the
rest of the world uses it as a PHONE BAND. Wonder what ever happened to
that proposal to open up 50 more KC below 7000 Khz broadcasters no longer
use? The whole HF band may be a ham band quite shortly. Government and
commercial interests want satellite operations, not noisy old Titanic comms
on HF at amazingly slow data rates anyone can intercept. The whole band is
as obsolete as our friends in Newington, CT.

As to the testing, let's stop licensing unqualified hams. There is no ham
radio test any more. I have friends whos wives have no idea how to put
batteries in a flashlight with Extra Class tickets. They just memorized
the test questions and got their Extras. How stupid. HAM RADIO WAS
DESIGNED TO INSURE ELECTRONIC TECHNICIANS AND OPERATORS IN TIME OF NATIONAL
EMERGENCY! It sure isn't going to help the military any more like it did
when they drafted them all in WW2. Let's dump the whole, stupid giveaway
test rote memorization program and make it so only people interested enough
to study electronics can get ham licenses. Ham radio was never just a
hobby! It's a national resource for TECHNICIANS the government can grab in
emergencies....I'd like to see it returned to that mode.

--
Larry

wrote:

snip
Agreed in many respects. I'd like to see the ham radio tests a little
tougher on the theory, question pools not available to anybody but
registered volunteer examiners etc. study materials should be built
around the student learning the damn material and not on memorizing
answers to multiple guess questions.

If they're dropping the code because it is little used it does not make
much sense to get tougher on theory. For the most part, new hams buy
their radios and ancillary equipments and couldn't work on them if they
wanted to because of the way electronics are made now.

Jack

--
Jack Erbes in Ellsworth, Maine, USA - jackerbes at adelphia dot net
(also receiving email at jacker at midmaine.com)

In article , Larry
wrote:

wrote in
:

the code is part of our heritage

So isn't sailing. Shall we require all power boaters to be licensed
sailors, tested in sail, before we allow them to drive bassboats?

Oh, I WISH they'd learn to pay attention to anything but turning the key
and twiddling the wheel.....

--
Jere Lull
Xan-a-Deux ('73 Tanzer 28 #4 out of Tolchester, MD)
Xan's Pages: http://members.dca.net/jerelull/X-Main.html
Our BVI FAQs (290+ pics) http://homepage.mac.com/jerelull/BVI/

"Lew Hodgett" wrote in message
k.net...
Sounds like many of the old farts have finally died.

Careful Lew, some of those Ole Farts still lurk here in these groups. Some
place in this thread, we will soon hear some defense of the age old code
requirement.

I have my rig installed and have prepared myself for the written portion of
the General Class (several years ago, during a business trip, while stuck in
a motel room.)

I've tried 'hooking up' with a few of the Ole Timers here in my
neighborhood, but their widows meet me at the door with the sad news. The
few that still survive, deny that the FCC might ever drop the code
requirement. Additional the don't seem to realize that there are frequently
Mariners on HF/SSB on the upper side of "their band". One ole fellow
couldn't imagine that I had a Marine station and Marine operators license
and had never taken a test.

Sorry if I step on some toes. I would have gotten a Ham license back in my
teens if it weren't for the code and my inability to distinguish tone
differences and tone shifts. I could do 10 wpm on a key or on paper, as long
as I could send or visualize the dots and dashes. Boy Scouts taught and
tested me but the Hams wanted me to receive using audio.

Steve

"Steve" wrote in
:

Sorry if I step on some toes. I would have gotten a Ham license back
in my teens if it weren't for the code and my inability to distinguish
tone differences and tone shifts. I could do 10 wpm on a key or on
paper, as long as I could send or visualize the dots and dashes. Boy
Scouts taught and tested me but the Hams wanted me to receive using
audio.

Steve



You played it wrong, Steve. When I was 10 I used to spend my nights at a
ham's radio shack behind his house. He figured the only way to get rid of
me and get to use his equipment again was to get my my own ham license,
loan me an old receiver and help me build a 5Y3/6V6 transmitter for my
Novice station.....(c;

I missed his big Hallicrafter's transmitter and National NC-303 receiver so
ended up getting General so I could use my license on his station...hee
hee.

We were still friends up til his death at 89 years old....


--
Larry

Steve wrote:

Careful Lew, some of those Ole Farts still lurk here in these groups. Some
place in this thread, we will soon hear some defense of the age old code
requirement.


Precisely why I made the comment.

HAM radio and its practitioners may have been a critical resource 55-60
years ago (WWII vintage); however, today HAM is an old dog that time has
passed by.

Today's real resource is an 8 year old kid who writes video games,
satellite tracking and some other interesting stuff the kids do today.

Time to put the old farts, including myself, out to pasture.

Lew

On 2005-08-09 22:06:01 +1000, "Gerald" said:


"Lew Hodgett" wrote in message
k.net...
jds wrote:
well, call me an old fart then. if someone is too damn lazy to learn
code, let em be limited to a technician. i use cw 99% of the time. try
talking to some guy in italy that doesnt speak english any better than
i speak italian, add accent= wtf did he say??? an "a" is .- in any
language. jeez , 5wpm is a real obsticle?? i could copy 10 before i
even attempted my novice test.
j.d. kc7mpd

Sounds like a merit badge you have to learn to enter the club.

Bet you still have your Capt'n Midnight decoder ring.

Seriously, if you choose to use code, so be it.

I have better things to do with my time than learning to use a totally
dead language.

I'm not interested in ham radio as a hobby, I already have too many.

For me is it strictly a communication tool when I'm on then water.

Nothing more, nothing less.

If you aren't interested in HAM radio as a hobby, then why should the
hobby have to change to accommodate you? Why not expect the licensing
test to drop all the electronics requirements since you don't expect to
build / design / modify any radios. If you plan on having a marine
installer hook up your radio to a backstay, knowing about antenna
design seems like a waste of time. Even if you do, you should
probably need to prove you know something about rigging too. Well Lew,
if you want to communicate, use marine SSB, or Marine VHF, or CB, or
FRS, or GMRS, or your cell phone. Want to talk to HAMS? Get a HAM
license.

Want another potentially usefull communications option? If you do much
offshore work, you should consider getting a hand held Aviation VHF
radio with a AA battery pack to put in your "ditch bag". Legal to own?
yes. Legal to operate? Not with out an appropriate license. But, if
you just stepped up from your boat into your life raft, it might be
nice to talk with commercial airline pilots overhead while the rescue
people figure out who the unregistred EPIRB you activated belongs to.
--- ILLEGAL ??? COME ARREST ME --- PLEASE ---- NOW!!!!

Then there is that damn USCG Master License test. You need to know
inland river rules when you only operate in the atlantic coast. You
need to know how many bolts on a 6 inch fire hose coupling when you
only operate a 50 foot motor vessel. They actually expect you to know
how to navigate with a chart, dividers, parallel ruler and a pencil ---
how archaic is that? Everyone uses GPSs now. .They really need to dumb
that test down too to accomodate those too dumb, lazy or uninterested
enough to be bothered to learn.


Lew


Jerry
USCG Near Coastal Master / with towing and sailing endorsements
Amateur Advanced

That was the best rebuttal of the "you need to dumb things down so I
too can pass this test!" Amen Jerry.

PS. I am through all the practical reqirements for our AYF Coastal
Skipper Certification and working towards the Offshore Certificate.

--
Regards,
John Proctor VK3JP, VKV6789
S/V Chagall

On 2005-08-10 13:41:35 +1000, Lew Hodgett said:

Steve wrote:

Careful Lew, some of those Ole Farts still lurk here in these groups.
Some place in this thread, we will soon hear some defense of the age
old code requirement.


Precisely why I made the comment.

HAM radio and its practitioners may have been a critical resource 55-60
years ago (WWII vintage); however, today HAM is an old dog that time
has passed by.

Today's real resource is an 8 year old kid who writes video games,
satellite tracking and some other interesting stuff the kids do today.

Time to put the old farts, including myself, out to pasture.

Lew

Speak for yourself Lew!

I'm 59 and I still get a kick out of learning new stuff. I have to
preface this with the fact that I am an EE grad who worked in the IT
sector for 30+ years. But keeping up with new comms technology keeps
you young! Nothing like digital voice, OFDM modems et al. Hell in a
couple of years SSB could be going the way of Ancient Modulation even
on HF!

--
Regards,
John Proctor VK3JP, VKV6789
S/V Chagall

"Gerald" wrote:

If you aren't interested in HAM radio as a hobby, then why should the
hobby have to change to accommodate you?

Depends on whether you expect the HAM hobby to survive.

Unless some serious changes are made, there won't be enough new blood
attracted to the hobby for it to survive when all the existing old farts
are gone.

Lew

John Proctor wrote:

Speak for yourself Lew!

I'm 59 and I still get a kick out of learning new stuff.

A mere youngster.


I have to
preface this with the fact that I am an EE grad who worked in the IT
sector for 30+ years. But keeping up with new comms technology keeps you
young! Nothing like digital voice, OFDM modems et al. Hell in a couple
of years SSB could be going the way of Ancient Modulation even on HF!


SFWIW, the State of Ohio gave me a PE license a long time ago and as
long as I send them some money every year, it remains in tact.

Never had to use it, but it looked good hanging on the wall of my office.

Doing techie things was a way to feed the bull dog all those early
years, but today my horizons have broadened.

Today I learn less and less about more and more until someday I will
know absolutely nothing about everything.

Perhaps that day is closer than I thinkG.

Lew