[UK-CONTEST] Off Topic (Licensing)

[g3ory at lineone.net]

Ken,

My recollection is that things were a bit tighter than you indicate. 
Certain service trades (example: Foreman of Signals in Royal Signals 
(quite an advanced technician position, usually S/Sgt rank)) qualified 
for a bye as far as the RAE was concerned. Some operating trades 
qualified for a bye for the CW. I believe that few (if any) trades had 
both the technical plus the operating skills to be given a licence 
without either a morse test or an RAE pass.

73 Bob
G3ORY

>----Original Message----
>From: ken.g3lvp at btinternet.com
>Date: 28/08/2009 23:21 
>To: <uk-contest at contesting.com>
>Subj: Re: [UK-CONTEST] Off Topic (Licensing)
>
>There was a precedent for a fast track route to the amateur licence. 
>Admittedly it was a long time ago but I believe that after WW2 
anyone 
>who had been in the services in a communications role was granted an 
>amateur licence without taking the exam or Morse test, perhaps there’
s 
>an early G3... around who could confirm this.
>
>I view the licensing issue from the perspective of having passed the 
old 
>(written) RAE when I was 14 and many years later (in the 1980’s) as 
an 
>RAE instructor. This leads me to believe that the RAE either in 
written 
>or multi-choice format was never difficult to pass. In the 1960’s 
(and 
>later) many schoolboys passed the exam before even taking their 
GCE's. 
>As an RAE instructor I found that a very high percentage of students 
>from a wide range of backgrounds, abilities & age were able to pass 
the 
>RAE at the first attempt (I should point out that even then and to 
my 
>surprise very few prospective amateurs were following the SWL route).
>
>What then was wrong with the C&G RAE ? I think that the C&G process 
was 
>incredibly slow especially for a multi-choice exam which could 
almost 
>have been marked on the spot. From memory enrolment for the May exam 
was 
>in February and the result wouldn’t be received until August. 
Missing 
>the enrolment deadline meant waiting until December for the next 
exam 
>with a further wait for the result.
>I can imagine that today many people would lose interest at this 
point 
>especially when paying around over £50 (?) for the privilege.
>
>The present scheme does appear to make up for some of the 
deficiencies 
>of the C&G. I believe that in some areas it’s almost possible to 
take 
>the exam on demand with a quick result. Parts of the practical 
element 
>are might be useful but being able to demonstrate soldering and 
fitting 
>a plug is probably of less use to most amateurs today than the 
>(unfortunately) defunct Morse test. However it’s still necessary to 
take 
>three exams to get the full licence & I’m told that this costs more 
than 
>taking the old single RAE and in some places I understand that it's 
>difficult to find anywhere to sit the advanced exam.
>
>I too fail to see where ‘incentive’ comes into the scheme when the 
only 
>difference between the three classes is the power level. Many M3-6 
&2E’s 
>seem to be using 100W transceivers ‘turned down’ to 10 or 50 W. At 
the 
>very least there should still have been some restriction on the 
>frequencies available to M3-6’s /2E’s.
>
>How successful have the Foundation/Novice schemes been? I’ve not 
seen 
>any figures for examination passes for many years. One thing is 
certain 
>there are few M3-6/2E’s active on VHF at least around here and the 
>general level of activity on these bands is far less than when the 
Class 
>B VHF licence existed, remember use or lose? If contest entries are 
any 
>measure of activity both HF & VHF contests show very little activity 
by 
>M3-6’s/2E’s.
>
>I believe that one objective of the foundation licence was to bring 
>youngsters into the hobby, perhaps someone has some statistics to 
see 
>how successful this has been. The impression that I have today is 
that 
>most new licensees are approaching retirement age, perhaps it’s this 
>group which we should be encouraging. It’s not surprising given that 
the 
>youngsters who in the past might have been interested in amateur 
radio 
>now have their mobile phones, PC’s etc. are all very much occupied 
with 
>their school work show no interest in the hobby.
>
>One final thought, when I was first licensed there were around 6,000 
G 
>licences, now I believe the number is 60,000 therefore should we 
worry 
>about the number of new people coming into the hobby although I can 
see 
>that this might concern the Amateur Radio Dept. of RSGB PLC.
>
>73...
>
>Ken
>
>G3LVP
>
>
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