"KØHB" wrote in message link.net...
"N2EY" wrote


And the alphabetic order of license told who was an OT and who was a
newbie.
W3ABC was an OT compared to W3YIK. W3YIK was an OT compared to K3NYT.
K3NYT was
an OT compared to WA3IYC. Etc. Usually, anyway.


Not necessarily. Since we all got a new call sign everytime we moved, we
might trade an 'old' call in Minnesota (W0ABC) for a 'new' call in Virginia
(WA4ABC). Not only couldn't you tell how long we'd been licensed, but you
couldn't tell our license class (except for Novices with KN, WN, or WV
prefixes).

Hans, that was the old pecking order stuff. I foresee a new ARS where
if you want to know how long an amateur has been licensed, you simply
ask him. And if you want to know the amateur's achievements, you
don't look at how short his call sign is, you look on the air, the
www, and to the journals and see who is doing what. No Merit Badge
system required, but I guess we could move toward hash marks on the
sleeves if need be.

My mentor, W0VDI, was licensed at a Tech in 1952 and went SK 50
years later with the same call and the same Tech license.

Absolutely no shame in that, though some would think so.

Wonder if he put up with 50 years of "encouragement" to "upgrade?"

If everything was so nice, why was FCC so unhappy with the way things were
going?

It wasn't the FCC who was unhappy. The unhappy folks were a few resentful
and vocal OT's who felt disenfranchised because a nubby new guy could
operate phone on 20M, not having first passed the old class A exam like he
had to. The march to disincentive licensing moved to the beat of drum being
banged up in West Hartford, CT. I know it's hard for you to accept that,
given that history is written by the victors.

73, de Hans, K0HB

One ARS, One license (class).