>From: kd4e <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> >Date: 2006/12/16 Sat AM 09:34:57 CST >To: digitalradio@yahoogroups.com >Subject: Re: [digitalradio] FCC Drops Morse Code
> >> Ten Four, Good Buddy! >> 73, Bob AA8X > >It has been "Ten Four, Good Buddy" on the part of >13WPM and 20WPM Hams on 75M for 40 years. > >So much for CW as a LID filter. > >Sigh. > >-- > >Thanks! & 73, doc, KD4E >... in sunny & warm Florida :-) >~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ >Thank our brave soldiers this season: >http://www.letssaythanks.com/Home1024.html >~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ >URL: bibleseven (dot) com > Gentlemen, This might get me flamed/burnt to a crisp but I have my asbestos underwear firmly in place. I am not against CW...it's just another mode that we can use but I don't see how it is a "lid filter". I am currently learning CW and enjoying it enough that I will continue learning it in spite of the R&O. I have met incredibly good and bad operators, in my admittedly short time as a ham, who have passed the code. It is my personal opinion that when computer chips that can encode/decode CW at very fast speeds are cheap (which I believe is the case) perhaps it is time to consider CW just another digital mode. CW is a wonderful mode for it's fantastic S/N ratio but the days when we might have had to "Macgyver" a radio together from car parts and tap CW out for help are largely gone. The argument that someone must know CW to operate knobs on a radio is the same one as you must know ASCII codes to use a computer keyboard (can anyone tell me what an ASCII A is? EBCDIC A? Things change). Perhaps I am naive but if there is concern about too many "lids" getting advanced tickets couldn't we as a community increase the difficulty of the written exams to include more radio theory? There are an awful lot of kids doing incredible experimentation on shoestring budgets in the UHF range just look at the DEFCON distance shootouts every year. The distance records set with homemade antennas represents what HAM radio is all about experimentation and advancement of the radio art. It is really hard to convince young folks that we are all about fun experimentation and advancement of radio when we ask them to learn morse code. The code is the most frequently cited objection when I talk with a younger person about getting their amateur license. If we could get some of the young folks who are willing to do the kind of experimentation we see with Bluetooth and 802.11 distance records into amateur radio that would be fantastic. In fact, my theory is that people like that are amateur radio operators at heart they just don't know it yet. Just my uninformed .02 Best Regards, Manaen
