Greetings - some early morning ramblings. No matter when you obtained your first amateur license, it was a hard exam. If that was 10 years ago, 20, 30 or even longer, your exam was difficult. I've mentioned this to you in a previous written report but I also said it to Mike Wilhelm who was then Chief of the Wireless Bureau when Chris and I met with him to push our license restructuring concept after they had released the 05-235 NPRM. Wilhelm, who is a ham, said "Oh, getting a ham license is easy", to with I responded "Yes, it is now that you and I have many, many years of experience in amateur radio, but remember back when you took your first amateur exam...ever, and recall the difficulty, anxiety and frustration you experienced. Now, think about how that not only impacts an adult but what its like for a 12 year old kid". Wilhelm thought for a minute and agreed. It is great that we have the experience of many years in amateur radio today. Unfortunately, though, many forget that first effort to obtain their amateur license and now have an expectation that once you do obtain it you should know everything there is to know. What would happen in the professional world of engineering, medicine, law, education, or pick a field, if we required individuals to come directly out of an educational institution with a diploma or degree and mandate that they would not be permitted to continue learning or could not ask a senior, more experienced co-worker or superior for advice or to check their work. I get the impression that is where we are in amateur radio today. We want the entry level licensee to have years of experience before at time they get their license. If we would take the time at our upcoming board meeting to go around the room and ask each person to tell about a mistake they made on the air right after they were first licensed (and you'd be honest) we would have one of the funniest moments possible and once you heard something different from what you offered you would think "Yea, I remember doing that as well". Dave and I did that one day. I offered something really stupid that I had done as a Novice that I look back on now and think "you moron", but it was part of the on-the-air learning experience that only comes from learning by doing. Dave then shared with me one of his Novice experiences. We had a good laugh and were quite pleased that we have gained experience far beyond those days..days that we all remember, cherish and refer to as our best days in amateur radio! Why? Because we were LEARNING. I've had an amateur license now for over 35 years, and I'm still learning. This year's project has been software defined radio and that is as exciting as anything I've done in amateur radio. Operating is easy, but learning the technology and theory behind it is difficult. Five years from now I expect to consider it "easy" but I hope I never forget the difficulty I had (and am still having) in learning everything I can about SDR. What's great about amateur radio in this and many, many areas? You can chat with people who have PhD's in these areas. Bob McGwire (we humorously call him "crazy Bob") and Gerald Youngblood are great resources in this one area and guess what? I've never once heard them talk about amateur radio "going to hell" or complain about the lack of knowledge of new hams (or old ones for that matter). They will sit down and spend time with anyone wanting to learn. I made a statement in an email here the other day that I was still not happy with the Technician Class license exam. I received an email inquiring why, since we just went through a rewrite of our material and the question pool. Just so everyone knows, my displeasure is not with how the questions are worded or our new manuals. They are written very well. I'm disjointed by the fact that there are almost 400 questions in the question pool. That is ridiculous for an entry level license. For the Novice license, we published 50 topical questions and the exam contained 20 questions. When I bring this up someone always says "Yea, but those questions weren't the exact questions on the exam!" Well, yes they were, or they were close enough it didn't present a problem. I have no problem with a 35 question exam, but the size of the question pool is too big and should be less that half that (or less!). I had a person send me an email yesterday requesting that we change the name of the Silent Key column in QST, now that (according to him) the "key" is a thing of the past. I told him I didn't anticipate any change in the column's title. I went on to tell him that I know quite a few old time hams who took only a CW receiving test to obtain their license but have never sent one letter on a straight key, bug or keyer paddle. They hate CW and have never used it. Some are rag chewers, some contesters and some big DX'ers and have every conceivable Phone DXCC award but nothing on CW. I know some Technician class licensees that never took a code test to get their license, but have since learned Morse and use it for VHF/UHF weak signal work, and will now be able to use it on HF. If we were going to change the name of the column based on who does or does not use a key, or CW, we would have had to start having two separate columns beginning many years ago. The next few years will be interesting and challenging. The names and faces will change but the stories will be the same. Our mission must continue to be stewardship of the Amateur Radio Service. 73 Joel W5ZN _____ From: Joyce Birmingham [mailto:joyce@sabbi-us.com] Sent: Tuesday, December 19, 2006 8:55 PM To: arrl-odv Subject: [arrl-odv:14975] Re: WT Docket 05-235 What some of you seem to feel will only help to close the doors on our future. I've seen many kids today, (ages 8 to 80!) struggle to understand the theory and I've watched many of them fail and many of them succeed at the VE testing. I'd hate to be the nay-sayer telling them that they are probably not 'cut-out' to be hams. The kids(of all ages) are bright and full of promise and they are a big part of our future. And we have a responsibility to help all of them succeed. Remember the ARRL pillars? Education is one of them. As Frank has stated we are not getting an engineering license. And taking an Amateur Radio test, does not make you a Ham. It's what you learn and apply throughout the life of the hobby that makes you a Ham. We need to help aspiring hams by mentoring...helping them become good, courteous and skillful operators, 73, Joyce - KA2ANF ARRL Vice Director, Hudson Division ka2anf@arrl.org -----Original Message----- From: William Sawders [mailto:k7zm@hotmail.com] Sent: Sunday, December 17, 2006 10:32 AM To: arrl-odv Subject: [arrl-odv:14951] Re: WT Docket 05-235 There's an opinion I can really agree to. Remember the days when we had to "draw" diagrams? The Colpitts...Hartley, and R.F. Amplifiers? For a new ham, that was always tough for me. It might be something to put back into the exams. See ya'll next month. Bill Sawders, K7ZM VD NW Div -------Original Message------- From: Brian Mileshosky <mailto:n5zgt@swcp.com> Date: 12/16/06 21:38:21 To: arrl-odv <mailto:arrl-odv@reflector.arrl.org> Subject: [arrl-odv:14948] Re: WT Docket 05-235 All -- My personal opinion... I'm sad to see the Morse requirement go, but that's from a philosophical standpoint and not a regulatory standpoint. I would be happier if the theory exams were beefed up in response -- a whole lot more than where it is now. The Tech theory seems to have been watered down to where anyone can pass with a few days of memorization. "What is the purpose of the 'Function' key found on your transceiver?" I guess the big thing for me is the seemingly growing attitude -- inside Ham Radio and throughout many other aspects of our society -- that everyone should be able to accomplish anything no matter what, and the easy way to fix that is to make everything easier to accomplish, rather than establishing a bar for those willing to devote time and effort to meet and exceed. For those who can't devote the time and effort, well, that's life. As Rick K5UR has said (and not with respect to the CW requirement, so I don't want to get him in trouble), "Not everyone is cut out to be a Ham." It's the same train of thought used by those who are targeting the game "tag" or dodgeball in our schools. The poor, slow children always seem to the ones who get "picked on," so let's just ban it to make them feel better rather than encouraging them to try harder and get better on the playground so they too can excel at the games. Not everyone is cut out to play tag or dodgeball either. Don't get me wrong, this wasn't the FCC's motivation for doing away with CW, but it could have been FCC's philosophical reason for retaining CW, much like their philosophical reason for requiring a theory exam. Many Hams held out for this day so they could end up on HF through the clock striking midnight on some evening in the near future. Path of least resistance for reward. While I'm not predicting the demise of Ham Radio, I am unfortunately led to ponder when the day will come when even the theory exam will be whittled down to a seemingly level on non-existence because "everyone should be able to get a license if they want one." I can't place blame on the Hams for jumping at the opportunity, and I'll respect every one of them as I do current hams who are on the air...it's the "system" and society that I blame for the 'instant gratification for minimal effort so we don't hurt feelings' attitude that seems to exist. Back to what I alluded to in the first paragraph of my Saturday night rant, it's not just because it's CW (and I'm a CW op, and as Frank said below it's a mode, not a religion). I'd feel better if the theory exams were beefed up as a result, just so a respectable bar remains for one to meet and exceed in order to get their ham ticket. Not everyone is cut out to be a Ham, and that's consistent with an unwritten rule of life that I accept wholeheartedly. My whippersnapper point of view...whew! 73, Brian, N5ZGT
Joel,
I could not agree more with the statement below. The FCC has ruled: CW
is Mode and NOT a religion. I for one have had the debate up to my ears
for far too long! I will be interesting to see how ham radio goes in the
next few years. It is, I am sure, not the end of the world. And yes, it
is LONG overdue! I think it's a nice Christmas present.
