GB> FCC NPRM

[Fred Olsen]

 >> Stu Lyon wrote:
 >> ... an Advanced class ham because I could not copy 20 wpm.

 > Ed Tanton wrote:
> "... could not..." or WOULD NOT Stu?

Ed, with all due respect to your license accomplishments and your 
abilities as a Ham, you have compelled me to weigh in.  I'll go along 
with Stu on this and say "could not".  Your answer was right in line 
with a lot of the impolite rhetoric I've read lately.  People are 
getting plenty tired of hearing all of this 'I'm a real Ham, I earned 
it' stuff.  Fine, you passed the CW element, you passed a tougher 
'written'.  Good for you, and no one is belittling that - but stop 
beating the rest of us over the head with it.  Am I a lesser person 
because I'm not a Ham?  Am I a lesser list member?  Don't go there!

Just because your friend "hated" the code does not mean that he was 
incapable of learning it.  But there ARE people who do have serious 
difficulty with it, find themselves up against some impregnable plateau, 
or just plain can't make sense of it.  No, "anybody" CAN'T do it.  Some 
people just aren't wired for it!  Did everyone pass all of the military 
radio schools?  No, people washed out because they couldn't do the code, 
among other reasons.  Did everyone who tried become an op for Marconi or 
RCA or Globe Wireless?  No again.  Did everyone who ever tried for a Ham 
ticket pass the CW element, or at least a higher level of it?  Ask Stu. 
  Or me.

Now it's entirely possible that some of these folks could pass it, with 
a different method, a more versatile Elmer, or divine intervention.  I 
don't know.  But I'll guarantee you that not ALL can do it, regardless 
of their level of motivation.  I get real tired of things like 'you 
could do it if you wanted to'.  Like Stu, as a 35+ year electronics 
professional I don't need to hear that and have nothing to apologize for 
on the technical side.

One other thing;
> And finally, perhaps EME and Phased Verticals aren't relevant to YOUR 
> ideas about Ham Radio, but there are plenty of folks who would disagree 
> with you about them being all that irrelevant, me included. Somewhat 
> esoteric perhaps, but hardly as irrelevant as you make them sound.

Stu didn't say they were irrelevant, he said that they "... that don't 
apply to most ham's operations".  Judging by the amount of garbage on 
the air I think that's true.

Fred
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