I wrote: > Its all gone now, except for a few who try to keep memories alive in the > only place where Morse (of some nature) is still in service (the ham bands).
Phil wrote: > Not so, Mike. There are several MF/HF Public Coast Stations still on > the air in the US, using CW and RTTY/SITOR (commercial AMTOR) to handle > public correspondence with ships. Morse is not banned on the maritime > channels, just no longer required for distress and safety purposes. Phil, my outlook on those operations is different, though I accept your point that they are another venue outside ham radio where Morse operations take place (rarely). I'm very familiar with the wonderful efforts of RD and the others at www.radiomarine.org , including the several times each year that they do a very limited revival of operations from what's left of a couple of famous Pacific Coast stations, often in conjunction with some old Victory or Liberty museum ship whose Morse station has been activated for the special event. But it is all essentially a historical reenactment by historical preservationist groups. Bona fide profit- and safety-driven commercial Morse operations in the USA ended on 12 July 1999. As interesting and laudable as these reenactments are, they do not represent any remnant of the originals that continues to serve real commercial and regulatory (SOLAS) requirements. It is odd but true that the FCC will still license stations and operators for this service, although Second Class Radiotelegraph licenses have had greatly reduced Morse exam requirements for about 25 years, since the FCC allowed crediting the very simple Amateur Extra Morse exam to the commercial ticket. But the FCC also continued to offer the Aircraft Radiotelegraph Operator exam and endorsement for decades after the last aircraft radiotelegraph operator position had been eliminated, so it's anyone's guess how many decades these other obsolete tickets will be issued. I let mine expire 15 years ago. Mike / KK5F _______________________________________________ Elecraft mailing list Post to: Elecraft@mailman.qth.net You must be a subscriber to post to the list. Subscriber Info (Addr. Change, sub, unsub etc.): http://mailman.qth.net/mailman/listinfo/elecraft Help: http://mailman.qth.net/subscribers.htm Elecraft web page: http://www.elecraft.com
