Alun L. Palmer wrote:
wrote in
ups.com:

Alun L. Palmer wrote:
wrote in news:1109271864.160442.290220
@f14g2000cwb.googlegroups.com:

Perhaps a compromise could be used. Suppose the code test
were replaced
with a test of - say - skill in solving transmission-line
problems with
the Smith Chart...

There already are Smith Chart questions in the pool

You must have missed this one, Alun:


http://groups-beta.google.com/group/...cy/msg/0206dcd
6822763ed?dmode=source

It's quite whimsical,

I'll take that to mean "funny". Thanks!

but hardly really comparable with CW.

In some ways I agree. The use of Morse Code/CW in amateur radio is far
more common than the use of the Smith Chart, mostly because most hams
spend more time operating than designing.

And the Smith Chart is hardly a necessity for RF work. As W3RV points
out, there are many software tools which do the job better and faster.
The Smith Chart's ingenious graphicality was whiz-bang stuff in its
time - just like the old ARRL Lightning Calculators. And Morse Code.
All are still useful today. But make no mistake, they're *OLD* methods
- all of them.

But if a Smith Chart skill test *were* substituted for the Morse Code
test, you can bet that the same sort of debate would arise, and for
exactly the same reasons.

I would be
happy with just theory tests where both the Smith chart and CW were
in the
question pool.

I suspect many would agree. I don't.

If there had to be a skill test it ought to involve
soldering and/or putting on a PL 259, IMHO, but I don't think even
those
things as essential, in fact for my money you could just put those
things
in the theory test too.

Why are they needed? PL-259s aren't needed to build a ham station - I
know many hams who avoid PL-259s like the plague, preferring type N and
BNC for their superior RF and waterproof characteristics.

There are also solderless PL-259 equivalents.

When it comes to doing them, people learn quickly
enough.

*Some* people do. Others don't even have the sense to file the nickel
plating off before soldering, or to buy silverplated connectors.

Point is, *any* test of skill is going to raise the hackles of some
folks.

73 de Jim, N2EY