To the list:
In 2009, God willing I will celebrate my 50th aniversary as a ham having been
continuously licensed? beginning in 1959 as a Novice - WV2JHR, and in 1960 as a
General Class Amateur License? WA2JHR which I have held uninterrupted. I held
full amateur privileges until the FCC implemented incentive licensing and
removed some HF frequencies to motivate hams to increase their CW speed and
upgrade their technical knowledge. I never saw much point in getting my Extra
since my interest is really only VHF and up and my General Class Ticket is
adequate. A few years back I applied under the Vanity Licensing to drop the A
from my call and change the (2 ) to a (1) to reflect my location in the first
call area.? My call became W1JHR. My license renews this year in April and I
sent in my Vanity renewal in January. The FCC has only granted me Novice
privileges on renewal. I was quite surprised to find this out and I was
wondering if anyone else has had this happen to them? I didn't even think
that Novice licenses even exist anymore but now I are one. I had planned to
rove in the June VHF Contest but now all I have available is 222 MHz with 25
watts. Novice privileges are actually better on HF than on VHF/UHF/SHF as no
other bands are available. I was previously QRV thru 24 GHz but I guess I be a
single bander now so look for me on 222. This is kind of heavy handed
"incentive" licensing and I guess I understand how those "blue haired" ladies
feel when they downgrade their driver's licenses to "Daytime only." I guess I
have to find a VEC in the area if I really want back on VHF. Don't let this
happen to you!
George, W1JHR
Novice Class again after 49 years.
________________________________________________________________________
More new features than ever. Check out the new AOL Mail ! -
http://webmail.aol.com
_______________________________________________
VHFcontesting mailing list
VHFcontesting@contesting.com
http://lists.contesting.com/mailman/listinfo/vhfcontesting
|