[UK-CONTEST] Off Topic (Licensing)

Sat Aug 29 01:41:01 PDT 2009

I don't advocate any kind of bypass for those with alternative
qualifications.  These might have been appropriate at the end of WW2 but I'm
not sure they are now.

What I advocate; is that steps be taken to remove the inconvenience barrier
for more knowledgeable and capable candidates.  For those who need the
benefit of foundation, intermediate and advanced level training, it makes
perfect sense to incorporate within the process an appropriate level of
craft skill development.  I am told by those monitoring and interpreting the
performance of the system, it works well for many of those engaging it.  All
well and good but is anyone measuring and/or concerned about the shortfall
of those who fail to engage because they consider doing so to be
unacceptably time consuming, inconvenient and/or perhaps even demeaning.
There are people who by virtue of experience already gained would make good
licensed radio amateurs were this inconvenience barrier not in place.

It used to be possible to sit a single examination and on the basis of a
successful result obtain a full license.  OK there was the CW aspect but
this is no longer of consequence.

I believe it desirable that twice a year, all three exams be available at a
single gated sitting.  I see no reason why candidates following such an
option need to be examined on soldering and other craft skills.  This was
never a requirement in the RAE days and amateur radio didn't suffer badly as
a consequence.

We need this to happen so that as many as possible knowledgeable and skilled
individuals can engage amateur radio thus becoming ardent supporters of our
hobby.  Barriers to exclusion of the competent must surely have been an
unplanned consequence.  Their removal is fundamental to our future.

Bob, 5B4AGN

2009/8/29 g3ory at lineone.net <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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> >UK-Contest at contesting.com
> >http://lists.contesting.com/mailman/listinfo/uk-contest
> >
>
>
>
>
>
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