I too got my license in 1957 and hated the code. I am in favor of abolishing
it for HF except in the code only portion of the bands. A code endorsement
could be added for those frequencies. The question/answer pools are a joke,
but I think federal policy regarding them goes beyond the FCC as the FAA has
similar stuff for aviation exams now.
Lets bring back the 2 year as a General Class or better before being
eligible to take the Extra Exam. Experience is needed before getting a 1 X 2
vanity call! I keep running into those guys (especially boaters) who have
less than 6 months as a ham and think they know it all.

Larry, since you brought up the NNNN at the end of a TTY message, I must
point out it served an autostop function on TTY machines such as the Model
28 (I admit to being a model 12, 14, 15, 19, 28 TTYer years ago) that were
equipped with a "stunt box".
Do you recall what ZCZCZRJ did?

Doug, K7ABX
"Larry W4CSC" wrote in message
...
73 Larry W4CSC aka KN4IM, WB4THE, WN2IWH when I was 11.
Leaving for sea tonight so won't be replying to this message....
Best of luck to all those coming into ham radio! For me, it's been a
helluva great ride these past 47 years!

NNNN (We always put that at the end of important-looking teletype messages
to impress everyone.)

SK