In article , " Stephen Cowell"
writes:

If you ever had to struggle through the period
of no-voice novice, you might never wish that
particular chore on anyone.

I had a no-voice, nonrenewable, nonretakeable Novice back in 1967.

Had a great time with it.

I got my first Novice
in '75, and let it lapse due primarily to the lack
of voice priviliges (and no manuals for the
boatanchors I'd been given). CB was just a lot
more fun.

I've never been on cb. Ham radio seemed like way more fun.

I got my second novice in '89, man, what a
difference! Sunspots were coming on, 10M
was hopping, and I worked for a commercial
radio shop. That's what Ham Radio is all about,
for me.... not hazing, but graduated challenges.

Hazing?

The greatest concern, and one which I don't think
has been addressed in this thread yet, is the fact
that our spectrum is in danger.

It's always been in danger. Other services have always looked
at our allocations and asked why they couldn't have some.

We need more
occupants to help occupy it... and HF voice
priviliges are the only carrot left to put on the stick.

We have 683,000 US hams today. That's about 2-1/2 times
what there were back when I got started in 1967. If the
bands aren't crowded, it's because existing hams aren't
on the air, not because there aren't enough hams.

This is a graying hobby.

Think about why.

73 de Jim, N2EY