Point taken. I'm sorry if anyone was offended. The written exam for the
extra is challenging, and my comment was more in the spirit of "bragging
rights" than any intention of putting anyone down. I think those of us that
passed the 20wpm test ought to take some pride in that. But unless I mention
it, there is no way to know. There is a similar issue with the commercial
licenses. I take some pride in the fact that I held a first class
radiotelephone license, only to have it "downgraded" through deregulation to
something roughly equivalent to the second class radiotelephone, and
broadcast deregulation now allows anyone to maintain a 12 tower 50kw AM
directional station!!
The first phone lost much of its meaning thanks to the "cram-schools."
Amateur licenses I'm afraid are suffering the same fate although to a lesser
degree. Interestingly, the extra class ham license often carries more weight
with employers than the general radiotelephone, as it indicates a genuine
interest in the craft, not just memorized knowledge.
And many clubs are just teaching to the test with no effort to impart any
understanding of the technology. True story: I was in HRO one day and a
woman who was preparing for her exam said she never could "remember" the
answer about Doppler shift. I was a little surprised and I asked her if she
had ever had a police car or ambulance running their siren pass her? Of
course she had. But she was stunned when I pointed out that was an example
of Doppler shift with sound, as the pitch goes up as the siren approaches
and goes down as it moves away. Radio waves behave the same way, they just
aren't audible. She was surprised that the answer really was so simple.
But it shows that people are just memorizing answers and not understanding
much if anything.
Chris, AB6QK
-----Original Message-----
From: Scott Manthe [mailto:scott.manthe@gmail.com]
Sent: Wednesday, April 26, 2017 1:17 PM
To: Chris Hays
Subject: Re: [Amps] Entry level license
You probably should've moved your soapbox mode switch down a couple of
lines. Those no-code Extras are "real ones," too. They get nice calls and
all the privileges, so why make an unnecessarily divisive comment that's
sure to offend them and detract from your message? It's also not at all
related to amps. The FCC makes no distinction between our Extra licenses and
the no-code Extra licenses. Maybe it's time you stopped doing so as well.
These comments remind me of all the old general and advanced licensees who
constantly bitched about incentive licensing after losing spectrum. All that
complaining didn't get their spectrum back and neither will snide comments
bring back the CW exam. I'm proud that I can do 20wpm and getting there took
me almost 20 years. But I don't weep for the loss of the code test. It's
gone, and pining for it won't bring it back. So why try to make someone who
had no hand in rule-making feel bad about their accomplishment?
The real culprit in the dumbing down of amateur radio in the U.S. is the
FCC's decision to create the VEC system, thus requiring the public question
pool and the easy memorization of exam content.
73,
Scott N9AA
On 4/26/17 1:42 PM, Chris Hays wrote:
> <<soapbox mode off>
>
>
>
> I hope this is some food for thought. Like I said, there are a lot of
> smart people here. We might just come up with a good solution!
>
>
>
> Chris, AB6QK (and yes the extra is a real one with 20wpm code)
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
> _______________________________________________
> Amps mailing list
> Amps@contesting.com
> http://lists.contesting.com/mailman/listinfo/amps
>
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