The amazing thing today, at the Frost Fest in Richmond Va, was the number of
people in line outside the rooms where the upgrade tests were being given.
Probably 90 percent, or more, used the excuse that CW was too hard, and now
that its a gimmie were there in mass. I would be interested to see how many
of them, who were not willing to do the work to learn CW, stick with ham
radio (at least hf) now. It has always seemed clear to me that those who
really stick with things are those who worked to get it.
I also noted several people looking over the digital interface units on
hand. Sadly, just about the only place I saw with many such units, had only
Rigblaster NOMICs or units with NO ability.
Danny Douglas N7DC
ex WN5QMX ET2US WA5UKR ET3USA
SV0WPP VS6DD N7DC/YV5 G5CTB all
DX 2-6 years each
.
QSL LOTW-buro- direct
As courtesy I upload to eQSL but if you
use that - also pls upload to LOTW
or hard card.
moderator [EMAIL PROTECTED]
moderator http://groups.yahoo.com/group/DXandTalk
----- Original Message -----
From: "KV9U" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
To: <digitalradio@yahoogroups.com>
Sent: Sunday, February 18, 2007 5:36 PM
Subject: Re: [digitalradio] Re: Why still the W1AW CW non-listening stuff on
3.580?
> Clearly, the FCC no longer considers CW a necessary skill. No reasonable
> person can deny that. The military (except for some special personnel)
> no longer use it, MARS dropped it as well. It is a huge sea change for
> sure.
>
> Voice modes were fairly popular as the technology improved and it was
> not necessary to promote specific skills since we already know how to do
> that. Digital is a relatively small special interest area of radio
> amateurs and only in the past few years has become a bit more important
> and that is reflected in the number and types of digital questions asked
> in the exams. Only CW requires a special skill to operate unless you
> include typing skills for keyboarding. In fact, I have found that one of
> things holding back more deployment of non voice digital modes is the
> inability of the operator to have those skills.
>
> Will there still be a few hams who will want to learn CW? Yes, a few.
> But many fewer than we had in the past. I am a good example. I hated CW
> and hated the idea that that I had to do it. And I only later was able
> to pass the 13 wpm and later the 20 wpm exams at an FCC examining site
> prior to the VE program, but it took a huge amount of effort.
>
> If I had not had to learn CW, there is no question that I never would
> have expended that much time. And I would never have realized that it
> can be an interesting mode to use. And I would never realize what I
> would have missed. It was only that I was required to do it that pushed
> me to do it. That is all gone now.
>
> It will be quite interesting to see how many do try it and become
> proficient in CW. But maybe only half as many? 20% as many? 10% as many?
>
> 73,
>
> Rick, KV9U
>
>
> [EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote:
>
> >I am wondering why CW, as a mode, becomes less valuable just because
> >there is no "upfront test" prior to licensing.
> >
> >Were Digital and SSB modes previously considered less valuable than CW
> >because there was prerequiste testing in either mode before we got our
> >licenses? Maybe Digital operators could have been subjected to a
> >keyboarding test and SSB operators subjected to picking callsigns out
> >of heavy QRM!
> >
> >Now, all three modes are on similar footing. You pass the test, get
> >your license and work the mode or modes that you wish to use.
> >
> >I just don't understand why the elimination of a licensing requirement
> >means that folks won't want to learn CW or improve their existing CW
> >skills. In my case, I was away from CW for a number of years. I can
> >still copy a CW QSO at 12-15 WPM but the format of a typical CW QSO is
> >pretty predictable, easy to follow and copy. I prefer the practice
> >that W1AW offers me as it gives me some good text to copy and a quick
> >way to compare my copy with what was actually sent.
> >
> >
> >73 es DX
> >Russ WA3FRP
> >
> >
> >
>
>
>
>
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>
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>
>
>
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