[BC] Re: No Code

[Rich Wood]

------ At 07:32 PM 7/25/2005, Douglas B. Pritchett wrote: -------

>So, does that mean if, in a year or two, I get off my butt, study 
>and pass the General written exam and upgrade without code, that I 
>am any less of a person? Any less of a ham? Who are you and your 
>ensconced brethren of the HF bands to judge my character? Like I 
>stole my license? If those of us who follow in the years to come are 
>subject to hard feelings and are not welcome in the ham community, 
>why should we bother? The hobby will die off with the old brass 
>pounders and the Commission will give the allocations to someone who 
>will use them, and pay for them.

The hard feelings really began with the no-code license. Many hams 
would check their databases to make sure they weren't talking to 
no-code hams. The ridicule was incredibly intense. I know many 
engineers in other specialties, graduates of MIT and other schools 
that would make the hammiest Extra look like a blithering idiot when 
it comes to physics. It didn't matter that you had a Ph.D in 
electrical engineering. You couldn't be a real ham without code. 
That's the main reason I stopped moderating the Fidonet Amateur Radio Echo.

Your character is judged by how fast you can beep.

Rich
KF2JO