All, I’ll add my voice to the clamor for further communication from HQ on this as I too have received a few angry emails; however after I give them the historical rundown, most are in favor of some if not all of the proposed changes. The thing that is concerning to them the most once we get past the hyperbole (and it is also concerning to me to an extent) is the amount of phone spectrum being granted. I and most in-the discussion at the AR State Convention Saturday voiced this concern. I do think we should be referencing this as the foundation license. As such, would we want to consider making this non renewable or renewable upon retesting like the old Novice ticket? Call it incentive to upgrade. I also see two recurring themes in the angry correspondence: 1) a disturbing unfamiliarity with the current rules and 2) a misconception that we are making the tests easier. (That ship sailed around 1984-85 with the FOIA decision regarding the publishing of FCC question pools). What do you all think? 73 David A. Norris, K5UZ Director, Delta Division Sent from my iPhone
On Mar 7, 2018, at 10:04 AM, Dale Williams <dale.wms1@frontier.com> wrote:
I also have received complaining e-mails and have spent a few hours responding to them and defending our position. We do need to take immediate action as Jim suggests.
73,
Dale WA8EFK
On 3/7/2018 10:40 AM, James F. Boehner, MD via arrl-odv wrote: In regards to the news story on the above topic:
http://www.arrl.org/news/arrl-requests-expanded-hf-privileges-for-technician...
I have recently received numerous “angry” e-mails from members who are against Technicians getting expanded privileges, perhaps thinking that this is a further “dumbing down” of amateur radio.
The fact is, the news story did not immediately indicate the processes of the Entry Level License Committee. The intent was to create an entry level license that would attract young, technically minded youth into amateur radio, similar to the foundation license in the UK and Australia. The initial emphasis should have indicated that if we do not attract youth in our hobby, the service will die out as we do, and there would be no legacy to be left.
Then, the practicality of the entry level license should have been discussed, that the FCC dropped us down to 3 license classes, and it would be unlikely that they would ever create another license class. Therefore, the current Technician license was chosen to be the vehicle of the Entry License. To that end, we needed privileges that would give newcomers a true “taste” of amateur radio, which required additional HF privileges, and modification of the exam.
All of this, including the extensive surveys were discussed later in the article, but I doubt many read anything after the first paragraph.
I would request that we have a follow-up article that describes the processes and original intent of the Entry License Committee, in order to diffuse some of these very negative impressions.
On a positive side, I hear CQ actually agrees with us on this issue.
’73 de JIM N2ZZ Director – Roanoke Division Representing ARRL members in the Virginia, West Virginia, South Carolina and North Carolina sections ARRL – The National Association for Amateur Radio™
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