On Sat, 22 Mar 2008 05:38:46 -0500, Geoff Schultz
wrote:

Brian Whatcott wrote in
:

On Fri, 21 Mar 2008 17:10:11 +0100, Marc Heusser
d wrote:

I am an electrical engineer and could quite easily get a licence for
amateur radio.
Does it pay off if I'd do that to access weather charts etc on a boat -
this year in Europe, both on inland waterways in France and in the
eastern North sea (between Germany, Denmark and Sweden)?

Apart from a transceiver I have a Mac that should decode the signals
without any extra hardware with MultiMode
(http://www.blackcatsystems.com/software/multimode.html).

Or are other options better?

TIA

Marc

Amateur licenses are worth another look at now. The morse code
requirement has been swept away, and there are just three available
classes - tech, general and extra.
...
Brian Whatcott
Altus OK

Just remember that you need at least a general license (which requires
code)to utilize AirMail.

-- Geoff

I say again: it is not now necessary to demonstrate Morse in order to
obtain a Technician, General or Extra License

Brian Whatcott Altus OK,

On Sat, 22 Mar 2008 08:00:27 -0500, Geoff Schultz
wrote:

"Glenn Ashmore" wrote in
:

The code tests went away last March so it is fairly easy to get a
General now.

With all the alternatives available these days the main reasons to get
a license is the camaraderie of the several nets working on the
amateur bands and the use of Airmail.
==
Please correct me if I'm wrong, but I believe that the General class still
requires the code test and a Tech class (which does't require code) isn't
sufficient for AirMail.

-- Geoff
www.GeoffSchultz.org

It would probably be better for you to google with
ham test general
than to continue correcting people with out of date info.

Brian W

Brian Whatcott wrote in
:

On Sat, 22 Mar 2008 08:00:27 -0500, Geoff Schultz
wrote:

"Glenn Ashmore" wrote in
:

The code tests went away last March so it is fairly easy to get a
General now.

With all the alternatives available these days the main reasons to
get a license is the camaraderie of the several nets working on the
amateur bands and the use of Airmail.
==
Please correct me if I'm wrong, but I believe that the General class
still requires the code test and a Tech class (which does't require
code) isn't sufficient for AirMail.

-- Geoff
www.GeoffSchultz.org

It would probably be better for you to google with
ham test general
than to continue correcting people with out of date info.

Brian W

Perhaps you should have read the rest of the replies correcting my reply
before providing the same answer 2 times.

-- Geoff
www.GeoffSchultz.org

On Sun, 23 Mar 2008 18:05:22 -0500, Geoff Schultz
wrote:


It would probably be better for you to google with
ham test general than to continue correcting people
with out of date info.
Brian W

Perhaps you should have read the rest of the replies
correcting my reply before providing the same
answer 2 times.

-- Geoff

Hehe....if you had listened the first time instead of contradicting,
you wouldn't be on the defensive now? :-)

Brian W

Brian Whatcott wrote in
:

On Sun, 23 Mar 2008 18:05:22 -0500, Geoff Schultz
wrote:


It would probably be better for you to google with
ham test general than to continue correcting people
with out of date info.
Brian W

Perhaps you should have read the rest of the replies
correcting my reply before providing the same
answer 2 times.

-- Geoff

Hehe....if you had listened the first time instead of contradicting,
you wouldn't be on the defensive now? :-)

Brian W

Hey, you're the one who's jumping down my throat for asking someone to
correct me. When someone says "Please correct me if I'm wrong", that
should imply that they're open to correction and that one shouldn't take
the statement as fact.

You seem to imply that one should research questions before posting them.
I had researched this a while back and things appear to have changed since
then. The fact that I haven't kept up with all of the regulation changes
in the ham world shouldn't be a major offense in a boating/cruising forum.

-- Geoff
www.GeoffSchultz.org