N2EY wrote:

In article , Dave Heil
writes:

Oh, I won't. I don't expect Leonard (despite often writing of "getting
into" amateur radio) to actually obtain a license during his present
incarnation.

The license is the least of it. Setting up a station and actually operating
it,
without government or corporate backing is the bigger challenge these days.

His "big time" operations always had government or corporate backing.

Except they weren't "his" operations. Len did not design, build, or pay for
ADA, for example. Nor did he "operate" the transmitters there, in the sense
that hams "operate" their stations.

The operators operated. Len maintained.

If you read his exploits carefully, you begin to realize that in most
situations he was one of a large group, not an independent operator. Not that
there's anything wrong with either.

The station operated 24/7. Through the years, Len has modified that to
show that *he* operated 24/7.

I wonder at Steve/K4YZ's repeated challenges for Len to get a ham license.
Would Steve rather have Len on the ham bands or here?

Len's lucky it doesn't come down to a vote on either.

I remember that one and Cutey Boy's memorable statement. They are,
you'll have to admit, quite similar in outcome.

You mean neither has yet made good on what they said they'd do.

Precisely.

So why get all upset? I sure don't.

I don't get upset. In all these years, I've viewed Leonard's actions
with amusement and curiousity.

Len's not going to show up on the ham
bands. He's not going to write any new technical articles of any consequence
for amateur radio publications. He's not going to show up on 7037 kHz CW, nor
best any of us in a contest or DXCC.

C'mon, Jim. You're just restating the obvious. Did you ever find it
strange, given the facts contained in your statement, that Len is driven
to make changes in the regulations which govern amateur radio?

Some changes must come very slowly.

Fun facts:

- Despite his claims of being online since dirt was new, Len could not
get ECFS
to work for him back in early 1999. Couldn't keep up with the times, I
suspect.
Most of us poor old backward hams got ECFS to work for us, though. He
wound up
submitting his 98-143 comments by US mail, on disk and paper. He's been
a busy
wordsmith since then, though, deluging the FCC with commentary. Most of
it is obvious cut-and-paste. Poor Bill Cross.

It'd be interesting to see if our resident r.r.a.p. g.o.m. (grumpy old
man) is the most prolific of commenters.

In sheer volume, he's probably pretty close to the top for an induhvidual
commenter.

Poor Bill Cross.

I don't think Bill suffers from Len's copious output. He likely glosses
over when his eyes glaze over.

*Somebody* at FCC has to read all of it.

I'd have to correct that to read: "Somebody at the FCC is supposed to
read all of it". That doesn't mean that anyone at the FCC is compelled
to act on any of it.

- FCC got about 2500 comments on 98-143, the last big restructuring.
Back in
the mid-1960s, FCC got over 6000 comments on "incentive licensing",
most of
them from individuals, even though there was no ECFS back then and all
commentary was plain old words-on-paper.

Did Leonard comment on incentive licensing?

I don't know. His recall of that regulatory proceeding is quite
inaccurate.

What's interesting, too, is that back in those pre-ECFS times, FCC got more
than twice as many comments, even though there were far fewer hams and far
fewer Americans than today.

His declared interest in
amateur radio would have taken him back to that era.

I "have an interest" in learning Japanese. I know about a half-dozen words
in that language.

I'm "interested" in learning to weld. I know three people with welders.

Domo arigato.

Heliarc!

- ARRL lobbied to increase the code test speed from 10 to 12.5 wpm in
1936.
That was the last time ARRL lobbied for an increase in code test speeds.
Indeed, the 1963 ARRL incentive licensing proposal called for no
increase in
code test speeds (full privileges would have been allowed to Advanceds
under
that plan) and ARRL *opposed* the FCC idea of a new 16 wpm test for
"Amateur First Class" which FCC wanted in 1965.

So the mythical "Church of St. Hiram" isn't at all as Len has attempted
to portray it?

If you mean the ARRL, its policy and operations are quite different than
what Len portrays.

I do mean the ARRL. I share your view.

So Len does, indeed, promulgate myths.

He goes far beyond myth. He fabricates, manufactures and distorts.

Dave K8MN