ARRL is Loosing my Membership/If passed!

[ButtFuzz]

"Many if not most of the new hams nowadays memorize all the questions and answers. All the levels have become too easy."

You don't even have to memorize the answers, you just have to use a very little bit of your brain and ask which answer makes sense. It most every question, The values are always 1 X or .01 Y, etc. So unless you are summing resistance or something similar, at least two of the answers that don't contain "1" are incorrect.

The Extra exam contained very little that was not covered (at least back in the day) in my HS physics, algebra and trig classes, as far as math is concerned.

The other band limits, etc. are easily memorized.

 

[ButtFuzz]

I notice that there are no "expanded" privileges on 20 meters. Shocking. I find that tiny little bit of Extra/Advanced spectrum from 14.175-14.225 just great, and utilize it often.

Honestly, just pass the Tests and get you some bandwidth. Then we can all complain about something else.

 

[Road Squawker]

Obviously you don't listen to all the Class A Extra's on 7200Khz LOL!

Actually,the "ringleader" on 7.2 is a no code General....... jus sayin

 

[riverrat373]

I support the ARRL's proposal 101%! If hams don't start filling up more frequencies with conversations commercial interests WILL try to take them over! I know a lot of you old timers don't like it because yo believe "you must earn them" but times have changed and you need to change with them.

 

[Mudfoot]

Why won't Advanced ticket holders ever upgrade to Extra?

 

[Captain Kilowatt]

I support the ARRL's proposal 101%! If hams don't start filling up more frequencies with conversations commercial interests WILL try to take them over! I know a lot of you old timers don't like it because yo believe "you must earn them" but times have changed and you need to change with them.

Commercial interests may look for some VHF frequencies but most likely UHF frequencies but will never look for the HF bands. It's just not suited to their interests.

 

[riverrat373]

Commercial interests may look for some VHF frequencies but most likely UHF frequencies but will never look for the HF bands. It's just not suited to their interests.

Yeah capt, you keep on believing that and one day you will be saying: "Where did all all our frequencies go?"

 

[riverrat373]

I ask this question: Isn't it more important to operate according to the rules and regulations than knowing theory? Do you need to take a test on communications theory to operate a cell phone?

 

[Captain Kilowatt]

Yeah capt, you keep on believing that and one day you will be saying: "Where did all all our frequencies go?"

Ask what it is business want spectrum for. The answer is DATA and RF ID systems both of which are TOTALLY unsuitable for use on the HF bands. Businesses could care less about conducting comms on HF when cell phones, internet and trunked radio systems are vastly superiour and reliable. No....I stand by what I said about the prospect of business looking to VHF/UHF/SHF and not batting an eye towards HF. Commercial enterprises such as shipping are abandoning HF in favour of satellite comms. The coast guard even no longer even monitors 500 KHz or 2182 KHz any more. I have been in this for 30 years and not once have I seen or heard commercial interests looking at our HF spectrum but there have been several proposals concerning our V/UHF bands.

 

[riverrat373]

So what you're saying Capt. is that hf, i.e., ham bands are for outdated forms of communication?

 

[binrat]

I'm pretty well inline with CK. VHF / UHF requires a lot less to operate on for a business compared to HF. Simple to use with little support and the lack of huge antennas make sense for business.

 

[sunbulls]

Why won't Advanced ticket holders ever upgrade to Extra?

I think a lot of the Advance ticket holders during their time felt they had enough allocated SSB space to suit their needs, and a 20 wpm code test placed on those that didn’t care for CW in the first place put the damper on further endeavors. By in large CW DX stations hang around in the lower Extra portions of several bands. If you enjoyed CW and liked working DX, getting your Extra ticket was a huge bonus in those days. Some of that follows suit today. The CW DX stations are still plentiful, but the difference is you wont find too many recent Extra ticket hams in that portion of the band anymore, and if you do, a fair share of them are using a keyboard / video screen. They cheat because they would have difficulty copying over 10 wpm on their own.

 

[Captain Kilowatt]

So what you're saying Capt. is that hf, i.e., ham bands are for outdated forms of communication?

For a commercial undertaking YES. For hobbyists or special needs like disaster coms in the very early stages no. Shipping and aviation is moving away from HF in favour of satellite coms and it is not so much as HF being outdated as it is newer forms of communications, mostly digital, are better suited to the needs and HF is unsuitable for digital communications at any type of speed necessary for good efficiency. Yes amateurs use digital modes on HF but it is not realistic to expect a commercial entity to use such relatively slow speeds. Data speed is a function of bandwidth and the V/U/SHF bands is where the bandwidth is not on HF. Besides the unreliability of establishing a communications link on HF during low sunspot periods or times of a geomagnetic storm makes it unsuitable for any type of important coms. If you were around on shortwave in the 70's and 80's you would see a HUGE difference between then and today. Even most the major international broadcasters have dropped their HF frequencies in favour of satellite or internet feeds.

 

[w9cll]

I agree with CK 100%, HF is not on the radar of commercial comms and I have 0% fear of it ever going away.

 

[Road Squawker]

I belong to an ARRL associated club. for those of you that may not know what that entails, some of the requirements is that at least 50% + 1 club members must be ARRL members, that the club support certain ARRL functions, ect.

At our last meeting, I stood and presented this issue to the membership. We had 23 ARRL members (including me) present.
After a fair and balanced discussion period, A motion was made, seconded, and voted upon to withdraw from ARRL club association if this proposal was enacted.
A second motion was made and passed to simultaneously withdraw from the ARRL VE program and to associate the club with Laurel VEC.

A copy of the motions and voting results were sent to ARRL Hdqtrs. No reply has been received to date.