Joe is exactly on target. BINGO...I lived through the CB days when
deregulation ruined it. I went to the regional FCC meetings. They gave
licenses (or lack of) to everyone..then it went to lowclass junk almost
immediately. Sold all of that stuff... I worked hard for a year, every night
to get my 13WPM general. Business made me let it expire and then 20 years
later, I worked again every night for a year to go from zero to a 20wpm
extra and I was really bursting with pride at that accomplishment...There is
no longer any pride in having any license. It has the value of a coupon off
of a Wheaties box. No more. Thus the question, are you a "real extra" or a
no coder?
My personal experience with the "new" extras is disgusting...I actually have
a shack on a belt extra who lives 1 mile from me. He asked me to figure out
his malfunctioning radio...seems he can't get his SWR to "work". Then I got
rf burned working on his setup because he never grounded anything. I
watched as he whistled into a mike to set the swr...Yep, a real radio
braintrust.
Then there is another extra here who commented in a club meeting that she
wanted to put up one of those 5 element "things"...Then there is the other
2m Extra who was could not put on a PL259..told the group to just "wrap" the
braid around the connector. The mad rush to add hams is the same hype we
heard every time they added an easy button to the license...it did not
happen then, won't now....and the ranks are going down. Club meeting
attendance nationwide is a disaster, hamfests are becoming extinct, Dayton
attendance and all other venues are not doing well....if you think there are
problems with QRM and rudeness now...just wait. Clubs nationwide are
scrambling to figure out how to stimulate interest and feed the hobby. Is it
dying?...I think it is definitely headed in that direction.
AND... the FCC cannot police the uneducated masses, and won't...just like
CB...Next time you want to set up field day, emergency communications, ham
demonstrations, contest stations etc....use only "no code guys" I have seen
it in person..... and it is sad.
Then if you want it done right...bring in some contesters or real Generals
and Extras...and you will get the knowledge and experience that used to come
from all hams. This is truly sad, it was expected and the outcome is
completely predictable. There will always be a small segment that do have
the pride, knowledge and enthusiasm but our numbers shrink by the minute.
Tommy WD4K
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