"Bill Sohl" wrote


Mega Dittos. I especially like the "catch 22"
prohibition of new modes. Frankly I'm surprised
that Joe didn't think of that.

I sent a courtesy copy of my comments to the author of RM-10808. Here
is his response.

73, de Hans, K0HB
__________________________________________________ ______

RESPONSE FROM AH0A
__________________________________________________ ______

Thanks for taking the time to respond, although your last comment was
a bit
strong.

The idea behind the petition was to try to retain some "merit" badge
testing
and a "reward" for learning. I fail to understand why removing Morse
testing is any different from removing all aspects of RTTY knowledge
from
the written test, e.g. "T8A10. What would you connect to a transceiver
for
RTTY operation?". I've taught several courses in the last few years,
and
have come to the conclusion that so many different technologies are
very
difficult to get across in a three week course, and I question whether
it is
desirable to require it.

What is so special about Morse that it requires so much emotion? The
real
issue for those proposing to remove it is they want more Amateurs. If
the
market were growing fast enough, we would not see this much effort. I
felt
that my proposal to remove CW testing for phone privileges, but retain
it to
operate CW would be a compromise. How it could interfere in the
development
of amateur radio escapes me. It is less restrictive than current
rules.

I also thought that moving all testing requirements out of the FCC
would
make it more acceptable. The FCC clearly wants to get out of the
business
of regulating amateur radio. The question we amateurs need to address
is
what are the requirements to get a license? Questions about CW, RTTY,
SS,
EME, FM, repeaters, SSB, space communications, emergency
communications,
circuits, electric theory, regulations, etc. And which group of
amateurs
gets to make the decision?

Anyway I want to assure you I that I put thought into the petition and
sincerely believe that CW testing for CW privileges was a compromise.

Joe Speroni
Honolulu