KØHB wrote:

"Bill Sohl" wrote


The support is/was for ONE-TIME free upgrades as proposed by
the ARRL petition and one or two others. No support was
given to any permananent relaxation of written tests by NCI.



Under this NCI-endorsed plan, 345,802 current hams (using Jim's July 15th
census) would receive a PERMANENT relaxation of the requirement to test for
General and another 75,730 would receive a PERMANENT relaxation of the
requirement to test for Extra. That's means that 421,532 individuals, or 63.4%
of the existing hams, would suddenly hold licenses for which they had not passed
the current written examination. Trying to trivialize that as a simple
"one-time" adjustment is intellectually dishonest and a cop-out. By any
reasonable measure, NCI and ARRL both officially are on record as supporting a
lowering of the qualification requirement for General and Extra.


Frankly, I view one time adjustments in about the same vein as I do
temporary taxes.

Imagine the howls when Operator #1 tests the day before the One time
free upgrade, and operator #2 tests the day after, and gets much less
privileges.

Is that fair? If they both pass the same test, why is one getting
preferential treatment?

All it does is substitutes another problem for the perceived first problem.

Hans, intellectually dishonest is an understatement! It works on so few
levels. I'll be howling on both sides. People should *not* get free
upgrades, and they should *not* be punished for the date on which they
took the test.


Perhaps they could reduce administrative burden, and do all manner of
other wonderful things by simply having a one time adjustment of
everyone to Extra?

- Mike KB3EIA -