A Reply

Hans, a Dutch ham radio operator has a great blog: Ham Radio Blog PD0AC. Today there was a post from a ham bemoaning the loss of the good old days, and how we have lowered the standards, etc., etc., etc. I tried to post this as a comment, but all the formatting caused Hans site to burp. So here you go.

To those of you who are not hams or English majors, I’ll try to do something more interesting tomorrow.

ORIGINAL:

Now days any retard can memorize 40 questions and pass the technician exam. Then they buy a $40.00 handy talky and are all suddenly audio and RF experts.

Listening to the local repeaters is like going to kinder garden everyday. What a boring bunch of no nothings it has become. It’s so dummed down that my dog has a technician license. It’s a wasteland of people with zero expertise and no personality. Frankly I am glad I left it behind.

And I hold an Extra Class (20 wpm) ticket and First class commercial license.

Because you are promoting the importance of intelligence and education, I’ve edited your comments with regard to grammar, spelling, punctuation, and content. Errors are highlighted in yellow; corrections and comments are in red.

Now days any retard (Merriam Webster’s definition of this word when used as a noun includes the comment often offensive)  can memorize 40  forty
(the accepted convention is that all numbers less than one hundred one are expressed as words, not numerals. The technician test is thirty-five questions, which are drawn from a pool of 426; the statistical probability of memorizing forty and passing the exam is negligible.)  questions and pass the technician exam. (It would be more practical to memorize the correct answers rather than the questions.) Then they  (the plural pronoun they is inconsistent with the singular noun retard to which it refers)  buy a $40.00
(forty dollar)  handy talky  (conventionally spelled handie-talkie)
and are all  (The plural pronoun all is inconsistent its noun antecedent, which in this case is, once again, retard.) suddenly audio and RF experts.

Listening to the local repeaters is like going to kinder garden  kindergarten  everyday  every day. What a boring bunch of no nothings
know-nothings  it has become. (Does it refer to people, conversations, a repeater, or the experience? It is not used to refer to people. These same comments apply to the following use of it’s as well.)  It’s so dummed
dumbed  down that my dog has a technician license (A federal offense in violation of Title 47 CFR §97.9(a) Operator license grant, which states that “The person named in the operator license grant…) It’s a wasteland of people with zero expertise and no personality  lacking personalities. Frankly I am glad I left it  (there is no noun antecedent to which it refers.)
behind.^*

And I hold an Amateur  Extra Class (20 wpm) ticket  license
and a  First class  Class  commercial license. (I’m not sure what you mean by a “First class commercial license.” In 1984, the Federal Communications Commission discontinued the First Class Radiotelephone Operator Licenses and replaced it with a special lifetime General Radiotelephone Operator License. Are you referring to one of these or did the FCC issue you some type of special license?)

When I passed my check ride as a pilot, the examiner handed me my paperwork with the traditional statement, “Congratulations, you now have a license to learn.” So it is with amateur radio. New hams get their licenses and through experience and experimentation learn why things work the way they do; why they had to learn what they had to in order to pass the exam. As they add experience they figure out new things that you and I never knew were possible.

* Thank you; so are we.