Galapagosization

Galapagosization is one of the most popular words in Japan. It stands for anything which won't work well any longer because of being behind the evolutional process of the age. It often means retrogression or degeneration which leads to the collapse of the society.

There are two things newly added to galapagosized things in amateur ham radio in our country.

One is the new licensing system. It is told new and comprehensive. When we apply for the station licence, they will permission to operate on all the bands/mode so far as they are allowed with the operator licence. The galapagosized point is that it is issued for each rig, not for the operator himself. We should apply for the guarantee of the rig for legitimacy to JARD or TSS. This guarantee is done on paper basis actually without any  technical check up. We should pay several tens USD for each equipment for the guarantee. It is not possible for us to modify the equipment without further gurantee by those organizations.

The other matter is that they have started a new "e learning" based operator licence for a higher class. We should take the exams to get any operator licences. For beginner licences, there have been classes prepared to get the tickets in stead of taking the exams. This licence taking class is extended to the 2nd class this year. We could get the 2nd class ticket without taking the exam. It is given with e learning, which may mean it won't take much investment for the class. This may sound good for amateur hams who would upgrade their licence. But the fee is incredibly high, that is, about 400  USD. JARD may be responsible for this system. They may get so much profit from this new licence system as they have had from the same system for the beginner classes.

There are always stories of concession by the bureaucrats accompanied with these galapagosization. These matters are not exceptional. JARD and TSS are supposed to provide appointments for retired bureaucrats. So amateur ham radio is another field of galapagosization.