Johnny Johnston Bashes Volunteer Examination System

[Pete, WA2CWA]

It's cheaper to go to Radio Shack, get a chassis mount SO-239, go to one of the 'do-it-yourself-stores' (Home Depot, Lowe's, etc) and get a roll of 12ga house wire, and then saw up some scrap piece of plexi-glass (which they'll probably give you) and drill a couple holes for strain relief's, mount the SO-239, cut the wire for the frequency you want and build your own, for *at least* half of what the 'store-bought' things are going for.

That's one of the first things a new ham learns, is how to build a dipole.  If hams of today don't know -that-, what DO they know?

Maybe they feel their time can be more productively spent in other areas rather then screwing around doing all these things.

[Todd, KA1KAQ]

P.S, The ARRL and others will say--"you were a newcomer once",--to which I will say, it`s true,--but,
      I began as a Novice, with restricted privileges(low power, xtal control, cw, etc, etc) I did not begin
      as an "Extra" with the knowledge of a Novice, or worse yet, less than the knowledge of a Novice.

So did I, Rene (well, except for the xtal control part). You were licensed long before me. The old Class A ops were licensed long before you. Does that fact make you less of a good guy and first class op? No. So why would your qualifications, trials and tribulations make today's newbie hams anything less than what they make themselves?

I've known you for quite a while, Rene. You're a good, decent guy with a lot to offer those coming into amateur radio now. As Mike and John point out, the license requirements and grades don't determine what kind of on-air op they will be. Just look at our mutual friend KK1L as proof: he came onboard as a 'No Code' Tech, and can easily run CW circles around us. I'd like to say that there are many more out there like him, but the numbers say that there really aren't many more of anything compared to the growth we once saw.

It goes without saying that the League hasn't used the best judgment in the recent past. The FCC hasn't treated AMers fairly either, compared to other modes. The VEC program and overall test question pool isn't anything to write home about. I'm in full agreement.

But it is what it is. Being bitter about it adds nothing of benefit, it merely adds more of the same. And, since improvement seems highly unlikely on any of the aforementioned sore points, why not affect change where you, me, and the rest of us who say we care, can? Get active on the air and off, spend time with your friends and set an example for the newbs to follow. Share the skills and knowledge you've built up over the decades on homebrewing as well as restoration, CW, operating etiquette, and so on.

Every ham on this board and elsewhere should always exercise their right to comment, protest, piss and moan to the FCC, ARRL, their congressmen and anyone else who can help. But instead of holding your breath waiting for the miracle to happen, exercise the control you have now to do something about it by making things better in some way, no matter how small and insignificant it might seem. It can be as simple as getting on the air and not acting like the idiots you hear and detest, or as complex as teaching classes, giving radio talks, etc.

It should be painfully obvious that amateur radio isn't interesting to most folks. It should be equally obvious that other groups won't have our best interests at heart. Therefore, amateur radio will only be as good as WE choose to make it.

As the saying goes, you're either part of the solution or part of the problem. 

[AF9J]

Ellen..... ya ever notice how you really hafta work at it to make a BAD 40 meter dipole ?

My bestest pal and I have put 40m ants in attics, apartments, 20ft pine trees and a bunch of other less than optimum spots and have never been able to make'em fail !!

We had one in his attic that had more twists and turns than an O.J. hearing. We couldn't keep the Europeans away with a sharp stick !!!

Yuppers Buddly,

I've had some that zig zagged all over the place, and they still worked pretty good.  The key - keep 'em away from metal on buildings, and try to get whatever height you can, or else you'll wind up with a cloud warmer/NVIS antenna (which can be pretty useful in its own right).

73,
Ellen - AF9J

[WQ9E]

I also vote in favor of the 40 meter dipole as being almost foolproof and certainly a perfect first antenna.  As a novice, I had a 40 meter dipole basically following the eave line on my parents 2 story house with some droop at the ends to fit for length.  Using the Valiant/SX-101 I worked my first DX  using this antenna on its 3'rd harmonic.  I was in my 3'rd or 4'th week of novice hood and called CQ on 15 meters and got a reply from VQ9MI-it sure was fun being a novice!  The antenna also loaded up OK as a top loaded T on 80 meters so that I could check into the Mississippi Slow Net and it also provided a lot of stateside and VE contacts on 40.

I am glad that I had to learn about the technical, regulatory, and operating aspects to get my "ticket" and I imagine reaching goals is one reason a lot of people were attracted to ham radio.  This is probably one reason why contesting, DXing, and chasing wall paper in general is so popular.  I well remember how much following rules was a part of the novice culture then and I still have my log book which documents every time I called CQ in addition to QSO's and net operation.  I was very careful to load the Valiant only to the 75 watt input Novice limit and I remember calculating grid and screen power as part of this limit since that was the official FCC line at the time-of course at that time I didn't know about the inaccurate meter shunts in Johnson equipment so there is no telling how much power I was actually running but my heart was in the right place.

Rodger WQ9E

[K1MVP]

I've known you for quite a while, Rene. You're a good, decent guy with a lot to offer those coming into amateur radio now. As Mike and John point out, the license requirements and grades don't determine what kind of on-air op they will be. Just look at our mutual friend KK1L as proof: he came onboard as a 'No Code' Tech, and can easily run CW circles around us. I'd like to say that there are many more out there like him, but the numbers say that there really aren't many more of anything compared to the growth we once saw.


KK1L is the "exception", NOT the "norm", as he has a EE and works in Industry.

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
It goes without saying that the League hasn't used the best judgment in the recent past. The FCC hasn't treated AMers fairly either, compared to other modes. The VEC program and overall test question pool isn't anything to write home about. I'm in full agreement.


Ditto, on the ARRL, the FCC and the NCVEC,--they are the problem, IMO.

----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
 
But it is what it is. Being bitter about it adds nothing of benefit, it merely adds more of the same. And, since improvement seems highly unlikely on any of the aforementioned sore points, why not affect change where you, me, and the rest of us who say we care, can? Get active on the air and off, spend time with your friends and set an example for the newbs to follow. Share the skills and knowledge you've built up over the decades on homebrewing as well as restoration, CW, operating etiquette, and so on.


As far as being "involved",--mentoring necomers is what brought this "dumbed down" exam system to
my attention.
It used to be one had to learn a few "basics of electronics" BEFORE one got his/her ticket, now the
ARRL and others just want to "get em in the door" and THEN its the OT`s responsibility to teach
them ohms law.(cart before the horse)IMO.

 ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Every ham on this board and elsewhere should always exercise their right to comment, protest, piss and moan to the FCC, ARRL, their congressmen and anyone else who can help. But instead of holding your breath waiting for the miracle to happen, exercise the control you have now to do something about it by making things better in some way, no matter how small and insignificant it might seem. It can be as simple as getting on the air and not acting like the idiots you hear and detest, or as complex as teaching classes, giving radio talks, etc.


Already have filed my comments on "restructuring" to the FCC  when they were soliciting comments
back in April of 2004.
I took the time submit my comments on ARRL RM-10867, RAF RM-10868, and NCVEC RM-10870.
So I dont believe I was "holding my breath",--question, is,--did you or others comment to the FCC
or did you even know they were soliciting comments back then?
As far as giving talks,--you and I amd Mr. Mike have given radio talks at clubs, and my take is most
guys at these clubs want to be "entertained", IMO.

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

As the saying goes, you're either part of the solution or part of the problem. 


I would say that the problem, is not "joe average ham", but the "powers that be" in HR,-- ARRL, NCVEC, etc.


                                                 73`s, K1MVP

[w3jn]

As the saying goes, you're either part of the solution or part of the problem.  Wink


I would say that the problem, is not "joe average ham", but the "powers that be" in HR,-- ARRL, NCVEC, etc.

Who says there's a problem?  If so, what is it?

[K1MVP]

As the saying goes, you're either part of the solution or part of the problem.  Wink


I would say that the problem, is not "joe average ham", but the "powers that be" in HR,-- ARRL, NCVEC, etc.

Who says there's a problem?  If so, what is it?

Surely you jest,--you really do not believe amateur radio is "alive and thriving"?
                                              73, K1MVP

P.S., no problem as far as I am concerned,--I had almost 48 years of a "good run" and am still enjoying fixing and rebuilding vintage gear.
Latest project is restoring a couple of BC-348 receivers and building a couple of homebrew transmitters.--enjoy it even more than getting on the air these days.(gee I wonder why)                                         

[w3jn]

^^ See, that's why I really don't think there's a problem.  There are so many different aspects of ham radio that people can pick and choose what interests them.  You're pursuing CW and restoring a couple of BC348s.  Others are doin' the digital thang.  Then there are the corntesters.  I don't like CW, digital, or corntesting but so what?  There's room for any and every interest and it's all good.

THe one real issue I see with ham radio nowadays is the lack of young guys and gals entering the hobby.   Going back to the "old days" with the exams isn't gonna improve this one bit (or any other percieved problems in ham radio, either).

73 John

[WA3VJB]

THe one real issue I see with ham radio nowadays is the lack of young guys and gals entering the hobby.

That does not have to remain a significant issue, because of demographics, John.

Anyone promoting the hobby should be looking older, not younger, for recruitment opportunities.

Two, very important factors make this viable:

1. People who are now in their 50s-60s remember "radio" as a far more significant factor in life than people in their teens-20s.

2. Many who make up the population lump called the "Baby Boomers" now have the spare time and the disposable income to pick up hobbies like ours.

Anyone who puts together a good campaign will have years and years of people to draw from, even as the leading edge of the "Baby Boomer" generation gets beyond the prime time as a hobbyist.

[The Slab Bacon]

A local ham friend and I have for many years had the same question about the 'old extra class' licensees. If their so smart and we're so dumb, why do these guys always want us to repair their radios for them!? Just an observation from a Tech+ and a General.

Mack

Been there, done that!! I repaired too much gear for guys that had higher class lisences than me when I was a tech. One would be amazed how many exters would bring their coax cables over for me to put PL-259s on them!! Many kids ended up with extras because they had a good memort and learned to copy code easily. Just about all of them are no longer lisenced!! If its in your heart you will stick around. If you are nare de will, you will just fade away.
                                                          the Slab Bacon

[Todd, KA1KAQ]

As the saying goes, you're either part of the solution or part of the problem. 

I would say that the problem, is not "joe average ham", but the "powers that be" in HR,-- ARRL, NCVEC, etc.

Who says there's a problem?  If so, what is it?

I was more eluding to the pissing and moaning about 'how horrible ham radio is today', John. The only problem I see within our ranks beyond the obviously-bad operators (which is not a new problem by any means) is the attitude some hold about being better than new hams because they had to do 'more' to get their license, new licensees not being worthy of them, etc. - all the while doing nothing to improve this perceived 'problem' by helping bring new people into amateur radio or even help guide the ones coming on board.

To me, this attitude is as caustic as all the mistakes made by the ARRL, FCC, and any other group. Perhaps moreso, since it comes from within the very group that should be attracting new people to amateur radio. What's attractive about joining a bunch of bitter, cranky old farts? 

KK1L is the "exception", NOT the "norm", as he has a EE and works in Industry.

I strongly disagree. I've met a good number of intelligent, overall excellent folks who are newcomers in comparison to you or I, Rene. One thing is for sure: you won't find them or change your attitude in this matter if you're not on the air and active in amateur radio beyond your own workbench. Come hang out with us at NEAR-Fest and meet some of the other 'new' hams who are intelligent, active, and very interested in the world of amateur radio in general and AM specifically. You'll be pleasantly surprised, and the future might not look quite as gloomy afterwards. 

[w3jn]

Well said, Todd!

[KB2WIG]

We need youths so we have someone to move our boatanchors and swing chokes (ants) when we become Advanced OldBuzzardzs .............  klc

[WA3VJB]

Why do you think they invented hand trucks ?

[KB2WIG]

I'm too poor to buy a hand truck... I'll just use my cut up broom handles and plywood to move things around... Worked FB in the cemetary to move monuments, it'll work FB with any iron..


 I still cant see how I can swing one of them through tree Branches.    klc

[K1MVP]

THe one real issue I see with ham radio nowadays is the lack of young guys and gals entering the hobby.   Going back to the "old days" with the exams isn't gonna improve this one bit (or any other percieved problems in ham radio, either).

73 John

It seems that the ARRL(and others) think they can attract more young people by "watering down"
requirements,--they have been on this "track" for over 20 years now and what has it produced?
Do we find many more youth who "cant wait" to get their license?--As one W3 told me a while back,
ya probably could not even give it away to most young people.

My oldest son(35) a EE, works for Raytheon in the Boston area, (has been exposed to HR all his life)
laughs when he see me "tinkering",--thinks HR is archaic, and who can blame him, with todays
high tech world.
                                                           73. MVP  
    

[K1MVP]

I strongly disagree. I've met a good number of intelligent, overall excellent folks who are newcomers in comparison to you or I, Rene. One thing is for sure: you won't find them or change your attitude in this matter if you're not on the air and active in amateur radio beyond your own workbench. Come hang out with us at NEAR-Fest and meet some of the other 'new' hams who are intelligent, active, and very interested in the world of amateur radio in general and AM specifically. You'll be pleasantly surprised, and the future might not look quite as gloomy afterwards. 

Well Todd,--I would rather be "active" on my workbench and with guys who are active on theirs(of
whom I know) than than be "on the air" especially on fone at this time.

NEAR FEST may be a great "social hangout", but how many guys that go there (other than am`ers)
really use their soldering iron?(if they even have one)
 
Most of what I learned about radio or electronics was not at HR fleamarkets,--it was in the service,
in tech school, and working on aircraft radios, AND also working on my BENCH ar home.

Had lots of "comaradarie" in the service with fellow techs,who were not even hams.
BUT the "common denominator" we did have in the military,--was we all had the "basics" in
tech school AND THEN got OJT(on job training)

The military did NOT put "newbies" on the job without formal training in tech school,--somehow the
ARRL seems to think that OJT should come first without learning the "basics" first to get a license.

When and if the ARRL starts to "get it right"(like they did at one time) I might consider getting back on fone,--until then, I will just enjoy benchwork, and not have the slightest "guilt"  about it.

                                                  73`s, OM, K1MVP                                               

[k4kyv]

Most of what I learned about radio or electronics was not at HR fleamarkets,--it was in the service, in tech school, and working on aircraft radios, AND also working on my BENCH ar home...--somehow the ARRL seems to think that OJT should come first without learning the "basics" first to get a license.

When and if the ARRL starts to "get it right"(like they did at one time) I might consider getting back on fone,--until then, I will just enjoy benchwork, and not have the slightest "guilt"  about it. 

I never attended radio or electronics school.  The only training I ever had was "OJT" from building and experimenting with "projects".  Before HR fleamarkets, it was old broadcast radios that I dismantled for parts.  (And how I regret tearing apart some of the very nice old radios that were given to me.) 

When I was a kid in the late 50's (before the great exodus to the surburbs), a friend who was also interested in radio, and I, would go after school about twice a month and canvass door-to-door in older residential neighbourhoods, asking people if they had any old radios they wanted to get rid of.  The somewhat truthful story we told was that we were in the amateur radio club at the high school, and that every club member was  required to have a project to work on, and that we could use any old radios they were about to throw away, for parts for our projects.  You would be surprised how many (mostly pre-WW2) radios we got that way.  A couple of times we were given radios that were too big and heavy to carry away, and had to get our parents to come haul them home for us.

I started out SWL'ing, and that introduced me to ham radio. (No, I didn't "get into HAM" via CB.) My first rig was built from old broadcast radio parts, plus a few items like crystals and air core plug-in coils were mail ordered from places like Burstein-Applebee and Allied Radio.  Later on, a couple of OT hams gave me some of their excess "junk" and I was on my way.  Finally I discovered hamfests and HR flea markets.

I never in my life ever built a single project "by the book" from the Handbook or magazine articles.  I used those sources to get a general idea about what I wanted to build, then would take inventory of my parts on hand, and try to build something similar around what I had.

Just following instructions for a homebrew project from the Handbook, like cooking up a meal from a recipe book, does not teach you nearly as much as scrounging what you can find, and then figuring out how to use the stuff to build something that works.  To me, just following a published article step-by-step wouldn't be too different from assembling a Heathkit.

By the time I tried for my first amateur radio test, I had already felt the desire to become a ham for several years, and had accumulated substantial knowledge about  radio from reading books and experimenting with the old broadcast radio parts I had collected.  In other words, I had already nailed down the basics before I even considered tackling the Novice test.

To me, it's a totally different hobby to "get introduced to HAM" via CB or "Elmer", study the question pools with little or no basic knowledge or interest about electricity or electronics, take the test, and then buy a plug 'n play radio and get on the air to "talk".  My reaction would have been exactly the same as what would be typical of to-day's young people: "Bo-ring!"

[K1MVP]

Don,
The "point" is you DID learn some "basics" BEFORE you got your ticket,--you did not get your
"freebie" ticket and then expect other people to "teach" you ohms law.

And the fact is you probably learned a lot from reading books, not just having other people "teach"
from ground zero. What you did took a lot of motivation and ability(to be able to pick it up from books)

You were "self taught",--I had an uncle who back in the 50`s(with only a grade school education)
taught himself electronics and was able to fix TV`s just from book-learning.
That was, and is very unusual to have that ability and motivation,--something that is sorely
lacking in today`s world (motivation).
                                              73, K1MVP                             
 

[k4kyv]

I just now finished reading the following as part of a message on another amateur radio forum:

I just heard a NCT on a repeater announcing he went in for a NCG test and passed.  He said, the VE then suggested he should go for extra.

He said, I thought about it even though I know virtually nothing about the inter (sic) workings of radio or electronics I decided to take the test. 

You guessed it!  He bragged that he was now an Extra Class and didn't even have to study. 

[K1MVP]

I just now finished reading the following as part of a message on another amateur radio forum:

I just heard a NCT on a repeater announcing he went in for a NCG test and passed.  He said, the VE then suggested he should go for extra.

He said, I thought about it even though I know virtually nothing about the inter (sic) workings of radio or electronics I decided to take the test. 

You guessed it!  He bragged that he was now an Extra Class and didn't even have to study. 

That SUMS IT UP,--This is what the "new exam system" of teaching how to recognize answers has
brought,-- "instant extra`s" who think they know it all after passing a "dumbed down test".

And the VE who gave him the exam, also "cluless", probably thinks he did HR a favor by bringing
this guy "in" with the ARRL`s blessing,--attitude being WE have a "new ham"(more $$$).

And many still insist HR is in "good shape",-- unbelievable.
Is it any wonder these guys go out and buy a simple dipole, connect to ricebox, and hopefully
figure out how to connect the mike up, and think,--"I ARE A HAM" --okayy.

                                                   73, K1MVP

P.S., sure sounds like the CB mentality to me.
                                                   

[AF9J]

I just now finished reading the following as part of a message on another amateur radio forum:

I just heard a NCT on a repeater announcing he went in for a NCG test and passed.  He said, the VE then suggested he should go for extra.

He said, I thought about it even though I know virtually nothing about the inter (sic) workings of radio or electronics I decided to take the test. 

You guessed it!  He bragged that he was now an Extra Class and didn't even have to study. 

[quote ]


OK, now my 2 cents worth - you all know I got my Extra the semi-old school way (in other words, back in the early 90s).  I don't believe in knocking a newb for being a newb (one of my biggest complaints about the 'Zed lately, is all of the cranky OTs ripping the newcomers, and the many newbs whining about feeling persecuted).  As long as they're knowlegable, or polite, and willing to learn, I have no problem with them. 

BUT,  I do have a problem with newbs who don't have a clue being made Extras.  I also have a real issue with what Don stated up above - what looks like an an Extra Class test that's too easy.  Back when I took my tests, the Advanced was THE technical test of the bunch.  I learned all of the electronics needed to pass the Advanced, back in college
 in the 80s, in electronics classes I had to take (to learn how to design & deal with instrumentation).  In spite of this, I took my Advanced cold in late 1992, and flubbed up, since it had been so long (7 1/2 years) since I had used the stuff.  I'm not a big fan of memorization (personal experience has shown me that I'll forget some answers, and memorizing doesn't deal with curve ball questions).  I borrowed an Ameco Advanced study guide from the local radio club.  I went through a sample test.  OK, here's where things deviate from memorization - whenever I flubbed up a section (or was weak in it), I went back to the relevant section in the study guide and read up on it. Since I'd had the topics in question in college I wasn't at ground zero - I was refreshing my memory.  Then I checked how I did. And I checked on umpteen different different questions in the same topics that I'd flubbed up on before, to determine if I was just lucky, or really remembering once again, how to calculate things.  I did not use memorized answers from question pools (didn't want to, and they weren't readily available, unless you were willing to pay for them).  I did great on my Advanced, and a year later, I got my Extra. 

Sorry if I digressed - the point I'm making is this.  The new Extra exams are supposed to be a blend of the old Advanced, and the old Extra (which in my opinion, was less about the technical, and more about 20 WPM, and a few goofy topics not covered in the Advanced Exam).  As I said, the Advanced was the brain burner of the bunch when I took it.  It sounds like they've wimped out on setting up what should have been the HARD test of the 3 now licenses classes that exist, in that it looks like a lot (if not most) of the old Advanced test, technical material was discarded, when it was blended into the Extra test.  If this weren't the case, NONE of these newbs (like the one bragging about breezing through to Extra in Don's post), would have passed the Extra.

73,
Ellen - AF9J

[K9ACT]

I forgot to ask the most basic question when I responded to the thread:

Who on earth is Johnny Johnston?

js

[k4kyv]

When I took my Extra in 1963, it was about on par with the 1st class radiotelephone.  I know that for a fact, since I sat for both exams in front of the same FCC examiner the same day.  Many of the questions on the two tests were verbatim.  IIRC, the Extra back then consisted of 100 questions, including drawing some schematics and block diagrams.

When they re-instated the Advanced class, they took 50 questions off the old Extra test, and from what a lot of people say they must have taken the hardest ones, and made that the Advanced test. The Extra was then 20 wpm plus the remaining 50 questions. So to go from General to Advanced, and then to Extra was still identical to going directly from General to Extra before they started issuing Advanced again.

I took my 1st phone and extra cold.  A friend was going down to the quarterly examination point to take his 1st phone he needed for a new job he had just taken with the phone company, maintaining microwave equipment.  I decided to go with him at the last moment and take mine as well.  We both already had our 2nd class phone tickets.  I studied a Q-A manual for the first phone during the 1 1/2 hour trip while riding down, and memorised some of the more esoteric topics like what is the deviation of the FM audio on the sound carrier of a standard TV channel.  My intent was to see what the test was like, to give me a better idea of what to study when I took it for real.  I didn't think I would actually pass it; I was just going along for the ride.

When they handed out the exam booklets, I was surprised at how easy it looked.  Much of the stuff on the test was very familiar to me because I had just finished building my first high power AM transmitter for 75m, and many of the questions were about transmitter theory and circuit design.

I felt so confident after sitting for the 1st phone exam, that I decided to stay for the Extra class amateur test.  My friend had to return for work, so I had to scrounge a ride back when I had finished. I was the only one taking the Extra that day.  I had been working a little cw from time to time, so I suppose I had picked up enough copying ability to pass the 20 wpm test (which actually surprised me; I was afraid I wouldn't make it past that part).  Then came the written test, which was amazingly similar to the commercial exam I had just completed.

Ironically, exactly one month later, my 1st phone certificate and extra class ham ticket came in the mail on the same day.  I rang up my friend, and he told me he had flunked his, and would have to drive to Atlanta to re-take it after the mandatory 30-day waiting period.

At that time, the Extra class ticket came with an FCC-issued wall certificate, similar to the commercial radiotelephone and telegraph tickets, only physically smaller.  I still have mine.

I had never taken any kind of electronics course.  I picked up the knowledge strictly from my amateur radio experience which included building several homebrew transmitters from scratch using parts on hand.  Maybe my university studies had helped a little (physics and maths), but those courses were all very theoretical, even the electricity and magnetism course, and very little of that directly involved practical radio or electronics.  I recall that my courses of study did help me on a few topics like measuring units such as Joules, and maybe some of the mathematics, but nothing else.

At the time Extra Class accorded no additional operating privileges.  It was strictly an ego-trip certificate to hang on the wall, but it came in handy when Incentive Licensing went into effect.  I didn't have to worry about licence class subbands, but after a few months it became clear to me that I had preferred ham radio the way it was before IL.

[k4kyv]

I forgot to ask the most basic question when I responded to the thread:

Who on earth is Johnny Johnston?

He was practically Chief-for-life at the rulemaking division of the FCC that administered the amateur rules and regulations.  He first came on board in about 1973, and remained essentially in that same position until he retired just a few years ago.  He always appeared to have an anti-AM bias, and during the first 10-15 years of his tenure, we were constantly bombarded almost monthly with ill-conceived, poorly thought-out rulemaking docket proposals that somehow always managed to propose some kind of new restrictions on AM such as bandwidth and power, or to eliminate it altogether.  It was only because of the strong opposition spearheaded by the AM community during these proceedings that AM managed to survive this period at all.

It was Johnston who unveiled Docket 20777 at the Dayton FCC Forum in the early 70's, that would have eliminated AM via a regulation-by-bandwidth proposal similar to the one recently filed and subsequently withdrawn by ARRL.  All phone-band signals below 28 mHz would have been limited to 3.5 kHz bandwidth.  Johnston touted this proposal as "deregulation"!  I was told that at another FCC forum following the the Commission's rejection of bandwidth proposal, Johnston publicly P & M'ed that "Here, we had a good proposal, but it failed to pass because of a bunch of guys who want to keep on using the same transmitters they've had for the past 25 years."

The p.e.p. power limit was proposed in various forms, starting soon afterwards.  I recall one proposal that would have made it p.e.p. input power. It started out always being a small subparagraph of some other proposal, and never managed to make it into Part 97. At various FCC forums, Johnston and others continued to complain about  how "archaic" the US amateur power limit was. Finally the dedicated NPRM was released the early 80's.

After the p.e.p. ruling had passed and the 7-year grandfather clause was about to expire, there were several petitions submitted for reconsideration, including one by ARRL, to permanently "grandfather" the old power limit for AM.  A year or two earlier, a  W3 living in Texas named "Prechtl", to whom Johnston referred on a first-name basis, petitioned the FCC to eliminate AM from the ham bands because he was pissed off over some early-morning SSB vs AM conflict on 7160.  The FCC had retained his petition on file for a couple of years without acting on it, until it suddenly appeared with an RM- number just about the time the Petitions for Reconsideration were filed.

At the Dayton FCC forum that year, Johnston led off with the topic about how the FCC was being overwhelmed with frivolous rulemaking petitions from the amateur community.  "Take the issue of A3E (AM) power.  On the one  hand, we have a petition from the ARRL to change the rules to allow AM to run twice as much power as everybody else, while another  guy in Texas wants to eliminate AM altogether."  Of course his spin was that the FCC would take the "sensible" course of no action at all.  After sitting on it for years, they conveniently pulled out that old petition and used it to counter the petitions for a permanent grandfather clause. Sure enough, the petitions for reconsideration and Prechtl's petition were all denied in the same Report and Order.

At another FCC forum, while this proceeding was in progress, Johnston was the speaker, and he conducted a Q-A session after his speech.  I posed the question, was the FCC going to follow through on their stated commitment to "revisit" the AM power issue in 1990 when the grandfather clause was due to expire.  Johnston, referring to a lawsuit incompetently pursued by K1MAN years earlier, replied, "You took us to court, remember?"  I  replied that it was K1MAN who took them to court.  His response was, "well, as far as I'm concerned it was the amateur community. That issue just got caught up in circumstances."  Then without pausing he directed the forum to another questioner.

I have a paper file over 4" thick that I accumulated on this proceeding.  The overt spin, deception and downright fraud by Johnston and his henchmen would rival anything alleged on both sides of the aisle to-day, concerning the administration and congress, Iraq, Social Security, medical  care or any of the other current hot-potato political issues.