On Tue, 22 Jul 2003 20:09:03 -0500, "Kim W5TIT"
wrote:
Watch this, John:
John, you said:
2. Any *prospective* US ham who learns the code and gets their Extra
(as opposed to getting their General) will be villified and condemned
by you, as well as others in this NG, as a product of the (supposedly)
dumbed down written exams, even if they operate CW 100% of their total
operating time, and
Then, Larry said:
Not by me, they won't! Please don't go Kim on me, John!
Then you made a couple of points and Larry said:
. . .In any
event, I don't think that passing ANY current amateur radio test element
is a particularly challenging endeavor these days. With open question
pools, VE testing that allows taking the test multiple times per session,
and a 70% passing score, anyone who can't go into a test session and
walk out with an Extra just isn't trying.
Ummmm, if that's not an inference to "dumbed down" then what is?
Yeah, I know, Larry basically proved my point for me, and probably
doesn't even realize that he did so - but that doesn't mean that the
rest of the folks reading the exchange didn't catch it. Your post
proves that at least one person did.
Since you're the only one who pointed it out, you win this thread's
grand prize for the week. You can choose between two prizes of equal
value, either two cents towards your next rental of the movie
"Frequency" or an autographed photo of Dick Carroll. Before you make
your choice, I feel it is only fair for me to warn you that there is
no truth to the rumor that all existing photographs of Dick Carroll
have been superimposed onto dart boards - so you wouldn't be getting
any sort of home entertainment device by choosing that option.
Then, Larry goes on even more to say:
The current technical
requirements in the written exams are strictly amateur level, as they
should be, and prove little about a prospective ham's technical
competence. This he will have to prove to his/her fellow hams by
actual participation, which is subject to evaluation by his/her peers.
And, if you ain't on board with Larry's way of operating, then you ain't
Larry. And, if you ain't Larry, well, then...
....then you might not only own a microphone, but can probably manage
to locate it in less than three or four days.
And, here's the clincher from Larry:
You're entitled to your opinion. The problem is, the NCTA's don't think
I'm entitled to mine!
Yes...this is the guy who maintains that no-coders aren't qualified to
even have an opinion about CW...thus Larry doesn't think other people
are entitled to their own opinions but takes offense when he perceives
that someone else thinks he isn't entitled to his. How ironic, eh?
If I don't follow the rest of the flock of
lemmings,
put on my tie-dyed tee shirt, faded jeans and Birkenstock sandals, and
hold hands with them and sing "Kumbuya" as they chant their liberal,
politically-correct mantra of "inclusiveness" while celebrating the end
of the requirement to be tested for a useful communications skill, I may
as well take that .50AE and use my radio gear for target practice, as far
as
they're concerned!
Instead, I'm supposed to put on my pocket protector, slide rule, and
visor and hold hands with Larry and Dick and sing "The Telegrapher's
Lament" as they chant their mantra of dumbing down in the ARS while
bemoaning the end of the requirement to be tested for a communications
skill that is no longer used anywhere else BUT in the ARS. Hmmmm....
The NCTA are classic liberals, and like all liberals,
they can "tolerate" anything except a difference of opinion.
You do remember, Kim, that it was Larry and not I who holds no-code
hams unqualified to form an opinion, do you not?
Larry doesn't know we read between the lines...LOL
Sure he does. That's why he won't bite on the question of eating
elephant dung. By his own standards, he is not qualified to form an
opinion on eating elephant dung unless he has tried some, and he's not
about to admit having sampled the goods, now is he? Hmmm...no, I
suppose not...yet if he expresses the same opinion of eating elephant
dung that any sane individual would express he's hung on his own
petard by expressing an opinion that by his own insistence he is
unqualified to possess - at which point, feel free to join me in
insisting that he dine that evening as a guest at the elephant house
at the nearest zoo so as to lend an air of legitimacy to his opinion.
73 DE John, KC2HMZ
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