[RTTY] Novice back in the day (Re: RTTY - WAS -> And then there was one....

[Peter Laws]

On Mon, Oct 20, 2008 at 21:34,  <Gedking at aol.com> wrote:

> The worst thing the FCC ever did was to Give the Novices a Microphone. the
> next dumb thing they did was to eliminate the Novice License.
>
> FCC are you listening???

No, probably not.

I don't pine for the CW-only Novice days so I'm not convinced that the
1990 (or so) Novice enhancement that gave Novices SSB and Data on 10m
was really the "worst thing".

OTOH, the current US license structure is busted, IMHO.  There really
does need to be an entry-level license and Technician is not it.
Three levels is fine, but let's make one the entry-level.

It used to be a 25-question test and 5 wpm and you got on the air.
You got slivers for CW on 80, 40, and 15, plus a larger slice of 10 to
do CW, phone and data all at reduced power (200 W).  You also got,
post those 1990-or-so changes, slivers of 220 MHz and 1295 MHz, at
way-reduced power (25 W and 5 W).

Now, you take a 35-question test and no code test (I don't care to
rehash that issue - CW is gone, long live CW and may it RIP) ...  but
look what you get:  The same CW privileges on 80, 40, and 15 as
Generals, the old Novice 10 m privileges, and then **ALL PRIVILEGES**
from 50 MHz to light, at up to 1500 W, on any mode, and yes, you can
even be a repeater trustee or run a beacon (on HF or elsewhere).

Hello?  I know that a lot of hams have no use for the Ultra Highs, but
should we really be giving away *everything* above 50 MHz to someone
that passes a 35-question test?  Have you seen some of the questions
in the Technician Pool?  Some samples:


T6B01 How is information transmitted between stations using Echolink?

A. APRS
B. PSK31
C. Internet
D. Atmospheric ducting


T2B11 [97.119(f)(2)]

When exercising the operating privileges earned by examination upgrade
of a license what is meant by use of the indicator "/AG"?

A. Authorized General
B. Adjunct General
C. Address as General
D. Automatically General


I mean, the last one isn't even completely correct (/AG, /AE, and /KT
don't stand for anything) ...   Yet look what a candidate gets.

We can easily do something about the poor state of the exams - we can
submit better questions to the NCVEC QPC.

Getting a new Novice license (in place of Tech - not a 4th class of
license) will take a lot more work.

OK, I'm done.  That's a month's worth of rants all in one.  :-)

-- 
Peter Laws | N5UWY | plaws plaws net | Travel by Train!

No Trillion-dollar blank check for crooks!