"Doug Dotson" dougdotson@NOSPAMcablespeedNOSPAMcom wrote in
:

Aren't we still bound by international treaty to require code?



ITU rules were changed. Many countries have already dropped code
requirements, and this is of prime consideration for the FCC to change our
rules to conform to the rest of the planet.....ARRL or no ARRL...(c;

--
Larry

"Larry" wrote in message
...
"Doug Dotson" dougdotson@NOSPAMcablespeedNOSPAMcom wrote in
:

Aren't we still bound by international treaty to require code?



ITU rules were changed. Many countries have already dropped code
requirements, and this is of prime consideration for the FCC to change our
rules to conform to the rest of the planet.....ARRL or no ARRL...(c;

I thought the ARRL only acted in an advisory role.

Larry

"Doug Dotson" dougdotson@NOSPAMcablespeedNOSPAMcom wrote in
:

I thought the ARRL only acted in an advisory role.



FCC has been heavily lobbied by ARRL since the 1930's. Because of this
fact, ARRL has had a virtual lock on what FCC does about ham radio. ARRL
is the only reason voice transmission is segregated in tiny bands. ARRL
caused the stupid caste system where their old buddies that were
grandfathered into Extra had the finest DX frequencies, while newcomers had
to struggle through the caste system ARRL created with "incentive
licensing" all these years. It nearly has ruined ham radio, discouraging
the young from joining the caste system.

In more recent history, a new communications mode has bypassed this
nonsense created by ARRL. The youngsters now have computers on broadband
internet and can talk to anyone they like, bypassing this archaic caste
system ARRL created. So, ham radio is dying of old age, still stuck in the
caste system.

FCC, noticing ham radio's demise, has recently broken away from allowing
ARRL to virtually run things. FCC dumped part of the caste system by
eliminating Novice and Advanced Class caste system licenses. FCC, over the
strenuous lobbying of ARRL, dumped 20 and 13 wpm code tests the caste
system used to prevent too many people from getting ham licenses and
crowding the old farts on their little near-private HF bands. Too bad this
attempt to save it was too slow and too late.

Set up two tables 15 feet apart at any function for young people, say a
Scout Jamboree or school function. On one table put up a gee-whiz ham
radio exhibit with a big antenna and all the toys. On the other table, put
a PC hooked to the internet with nothing but a simple sign saying "Internet
Access". Watch what happens. Ham radio is, rightly, perceived as an old
man's hobby. Internet just attracts them like flies to sugar. Too slow,
too late, too DOOMED....and it's all ARRL's fault and the old farts that
run it.

--
Larry

Larry,

Does that mean that my Advanced Class License, altough current is no
longer valid?

Check your facts.

MY Advanced Class still is valid and I can continue to renew it, but no
new tickets are issued.

Iv'e read your posts for some time now. You seem to talk too much and
have little meaning.
Maybe your new hobby can be blogging your way through cyberspace.

KJ5DL

"Leonard" wrote in
oups.com:

MY Advanced Class still is valid and I can continue to renew it, but no
new tickets are issued.

Iv'e read your posts for some time now. You seem to talk too much and
have little meaning.
Maybe your new hobby can be blogging your way through cyberspace.

KJ5DL



Advanced is grandfathered because they don't know quite what to do with it.
I was an advanced for years and years waiting for the 20 wpm code to go
away and got Extra in that little intermediate period after they dumped the
fast code test but before the new Extra test came out that was longer.

As of now, they are saying they'll renew your Advanced as long as you
like....but, of course, the FCC has a long history of reducing the staff
loading when it suits them or the money pit runs low. That could change.

They should have just sent you a new Extra License and done away with this
nonsense.

What little meaning about this subject did I not make clear? The ARRL
business, and that's what it has become...a magazine company selling
products...hasn't been a member-controlled ham club since I was a kid.
Don't think so? Go to a "club meeting" and raise your hand in Newington.
Don't forget to wear those IBM suits the "upper class" always wears to
hamfests to look more important than the rest of us...(c;

Angered at my poking a stick at his alma mater, an ARRL official at the
Sumter Hamfest threatened to have my ham license revoked in front of many
witnesses. He lost it. I told him when HE or the ARRL could have my ham
license revoked, I'd gladly take it to the new FCC office in Newington and
hand it in voluntarily. What's membership up to now? 20%? 25%?

ARRL can kiss my ass....just like always.

--
Larry

Larry wrote:

What little meaning about this subject did I not make clear? The ARRL
business, and that's what it has become...a magazine company selling
products...hasn't been a member-controlled ham club since I was a kid.

It is an economic matter with the ARRL. Where would they generate their
income if all those test publications and CD's were made obsolete? That
said, I agree completely with your observations of the ARRL's bad
influence on ham clubs and amateur radio in general.

--
Skipper

Skipper wrote in :


It is an economic matter with the ARRL. Where would they generate their
income if all those test publications and CD's were made obsolete? That
said, I agree completely with your observations of the ARRL's bad
influence on ham clubs and amateur radio in general.

I don't fault ARRL for becoming a business. But if a business is to
"represent" ham radio, then, why not Icom or Kenwood or Yaesu or soem other
ham business.

ARRL says it's a ham club. Ham clubs survive without becoming business or
publishers or magazine companies. That's what dues are for....dues that
give members CONTROL of the club. Once Icom ad revenues overcome club
dues, the club becomes an arm for the manufacturers to move product, which
is what the ARRL is all about.