3 ms·
Does anyone think that the current entry level amateur test might be too easy? When I was in elementary school I loved the idea of being a ham radio operator. I
by Mountain_Skies 8y ago
Does anyone think that the current entry level amateur test might be too easy? When I was in elementary school I loved the idea of being a ham radio operator. I checked out books from the county library but found the content beyond my abilities at that time, especially as they were my one and only source of help. In my college days I took another look as the tests were simplified but at the time every license still required a Morse Code test. With lots of other things going on I dropped the idea.
Recently I looked into it again and took sample tests online. I passed every one on the first try. My university degree isn't EE but it's in a related field that required taking a good number of EE courses. Even with that, I couldn't design a radio to save my life. I might be able to figure it out relatively quickly with available material online but it strikes me as being a bit of a mismatch that I likely can easily pass the Technician test while my practical knowledge of equipment used by amateur operators in that of a black box.
If nothing else, perhaps the bank of questions should be larger. I'm not good at rote memorization but others are.
Perhaps there is no real problem here but I can't help thinking that maybe there are a lot of people getting licenses without a real understanding of how much in the ham world actually operates. I understand the desire to make it more accessible, especially given the pressure to reassign amateur band to other uses but is there a risk of becoming CB Radio 2.0?