Here is how we can end all the silly antenna questions on the repeaters and on usenet.
Slow Code wrote:
Could you pass all the tests again today, or would you have to study a
little first?
I could pass them all again, no study needed. And that goes for
written, Morse Code receiving and Morse Code sending.
Bring out any FCC amateur radio license test from Novice to Extra, from
any time since I first got my license in 1967, and I'll pass it. I'll
probably even be able to pass tests from long before I was licensed,
too.
Every so often I try an online practice exam, just to be sure. No
problem.
BUT
I don't see any reason to require routine retesting of hams who haven't
broken the rules. FCC trusts us to keep current - that's part of the
"conditions of grant".
FCC currently uses retesting as a sort of enforcement tool - if someone
acts like they don't know what the rules are, or if there is some doubt
as to whether a test session was on the up-and-up, FCC will sometimes
require a specific retest.
If you demand that all hams be retested, what you're telling FCC is
that we cannot be trusted to keep up with the rules. Is that a good
thing?
FCC doesn't require routine retesting of commercial licenses - why
should they require it of amateurs?
And once again: Are *you* willing to volunteer your time to help with
the restesting?
73 de Jim, N2EY
|