Bill Turner wrote:

On Sun, 14 Dec 2003 18:39:24 GMT, Mike Coslo
wrote:


There is no *need* for the modern Ham to know anything!


__________________________________________________ _______

More fuzzy thinking.

In my opinion, the *primary* purpose of a ham license is to assure that
the licensee has sufficient technical knowledge to keep accidental
interference to the minimum possible. This includes interference to
other hams, commercial and government services, consumers and others.

Most hams are now appliance operators. And cb'ers prove that you don't
have to be licensed to run plenty of power on HF. Finally, F.C.C.
enforcement actions indicate that tested hams are perfectly capable of
causing interference.

Don't be confusing the past with the present.


Knowledge of CW is not part of the equation.

Knowledge is not part of the equation if it is decided so. And that is
the important thing. There are a couple groups that think that tossing
out CW is a good thing. One is those that don't like CW because they
think it represents an anachronism, and is keeping people out because it
is too hard for people to learn Morse CW. Th other group is people who
want it gone because they want as little as possible between themselves
and a license. And as little as possible includes nothing. You might not
like your allies very much, Bill, but there they are.

I suggest that you read what the NCVEV and W5YI are proposing:

http://www.arrl.org/news/stories/2003/08/07/3/?nc=1

but.... more interesting is:

http://www.qsl.net/al7fs/NCVECplan.doc

a doc they put out.

- Mike KB3EIA -