BoatBanter.com - View Single Post - FCC proposes to drop code on all licenses!

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NNTP-Posting-Date: Wed, 10 Aug 2005 11:45:38 EDT
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Date: Wed, 10 Aug 2005 15:45:38 GMT
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Jack wrote:
Agreed in many respects. I'd like to see the ham radio tests a
little tougher on the theory, question pools not available to
anybody but registered volunteer examiners etc. study materials
should be built around the student learning the damn material and
not on memorizing answers to multiple guess questions.
If they're dropping the code because it is little used it does not
make much sense to get tougher on theory. For the most part, new
hams buy their radios and ancillary equipments and couldn't work on
them if they wanted to because of the way electronics are made now.
iT isn't about that as much as it is knowing how they work and how to
stay within the rules.
Perfect example of this. A couple years ago the day before Field day
I was working my regular shift as net control on the maritime mobile
service net, 14.300 megahertz. SOme dipstick came on freq and asked
if he was overdeviating. I told him he sounded fine and he still came
back talking about deviation. I finally said that yes he was
overdeviating, he'd overdeviated as soon as he deviated from 27
megahertz. I got a couple nasty emails and a couple of on-air nasty
comments for that one. Obviously this dipswitch didn't learn the
material, just as my xyl's daughter and her doofus husband didn't
learn the material. I had to explain to xyl's daughter one morning
that discussing business on the radio was verboten and then asked if
she learned anything from the test she took.
WE're quite busy in life these days dumbing it down for those too lazy
to learn. Look at the Mac and windows os. iT's so complex in the case
of windows it breaks easily because we've had to put a dumbed down
front end on the dos so that the average user can handle it. Grandma
really has to send those pictures around to everybody on email now and
we really don't want to put any time into learning anything. Easy to
use means easily broken due to excess complexity.
Had to explain to a guy with an extra class ticket the other day how
to calculate the length of a dipole. Hmmm
IN the recording business they expect studio operators to have
autotune and to edit takes together using almost microsurgery because
people are too lazy to rehearse. It's becoming too much of a way of
life in the western world for folks to expect that the easy road be
offered. NOt that morse code has anything to do with that easy road
mind you. sTill I'd like to see the testing weed out those that
aren't diligent enough to study and learn the material that is
supposed to be learned to acquire that ticket.

73

Jack
--
Jack Erbes in Ellsworth, Maine, USA - jackerbes at adelphia dot net
(also receiving email at jacker at midmaine.com)

Richard Webb, amateur radio callsign nf5b
active on the Maritime Mobile service network, 14.300 mhz
REplace anything before the @ symbol with elspider for real email

--

They can have my command prompt when they pry it from my
cold dead fingers