Arvid, KC8VGO, helps out at Field Day 2003. Photo courtesy of Dave New, N8SBE.
At Wednesday’s ARROW meeting, I was saddened to learn of the death of Arvid, KC8VGO. Although he was in his 80s at the time, he attended my General class, and eventually got his General ticket.
He was a guy that liked to do things. Shortly after getting his General ticket, I heard that he attended classes at Washtenaw Community College, learning what he had to know to get his motorcycle license. His obituary also notes that he was a shriner, enjoyed square dancing, and belonged to the Country Twirlers.
Arvid was also one of those guys that truly was unable to learn the code. Removing that requirement was what allowed him to finally get on the air and then finally to get his General Class license. So, when anyone tells me that the code test was a good way to keep out “undesirables,” I always pointed to Arvid as a case of the code test keeping out someone that we want to be part of the hobby.
73, Arvid
I learned 5wpm for my Novice in 1970, but could never make 13wpm for General. Novice was a “two years and out” non-renewable license at the time.
I got a degree in EE (signals and systems), listened to shortwave broadcast, but didn’t get back to ham radio until 2009. I was out of the hobby for nearly forty years.
There’s still too much effort being made to keep people out, IMHO. Nearly half of all licensees are Technician Class (like me), and it’s learn code or stay off HF. I chose the latter. People should remember what the purpose of the licensing requirements are. It’s not to allow one group to make the public airwaves their own private club. We could keep a lot of cars off the public roads if we required fluency in Sanskrit in order to get a driver’s license. I refuse to learn a dead language, and CW is a dead language. How many Generals even know code at all?
Ummmmmmm, you do know that a code test is no longer required to get either a General Class or Extra Class license, don’t you?
As for CW being a dead language, you should be listening to the HF bands right now. There are thousands of stations participating in the ARRL CW DX contest.