On Tue, 28 Oct 2003 11:53:27 -0500, Mike Coslo wrote:


Yup, I remember that one well! Wonder why that happens....this thread
went a bit farther, but keeps branching out into other topics, with
the requisite bashings of the participants.

I dunno. I enjoy an intelligent discussion with those who disagree with me.

Me too - I learn a lot of things that way!

Now, with virtually no one using code except amateurs, and all of that
strictly within the amateur bands, this problem seems to be a thing of
the past. Just like a guy who sets up an improperly-functioning RTTY
setup (like I jusy did, a couple of nights ago...) - no major problem
- and no two way communications, either

An aside, what frequencies do you operate rtty on? I want to get my
feet wet with it.

40 Meters, but there seems to be some confusion over where the digital
band assignments really are.....the RAC band plan lists 7.035 to 7.050
MHz for digital modes, while ARRL has 7.040 MHz as a DX RTTY freq.,
and 7.080 to 7.100 for RTTY communications. And, the last RTTY gut
that I copied was on 7.075 MHx. Hmm.... (scratches head...)

45 Baud seems to be the usual format for Ham traffic, but I have
copied a couple of 75 Baud ones.

I have been hanging out there receiving transmissions and setting up
the equipment. RX works pretty reliably (on my hamfest PK-232). My
old analog Heath TX tends to drift too much for reliable RTTY TX at
the moment (and maybe forever - still working on it...).

Looks like fun, though - if I ever get it together



The closest thing I can find to a logical argument is that Morse CW will
allow an amateur to communicate with an other amateur in another country
who may not share his or her language. This *may* be of some use in an
emergency. Will it? Odds aren't all that hot. But here we have one of
those opinion things again. I think it is worth the effort, while many
others do not. And the odds favor them. Then again, I'm first aid, CPR
and defib trained, and will probably (hopefully) never need to use those
skills. But if I need them.....

With the way thing are going, I'm not sure if I would want to rely on
CW for emergency comms - the infrastructure isn't as solid as it was
years ago, and will deteriorate further quickly as CW contnues to be
dropped as a requirement.

As far as communicating with non-English speaking people, I hadn't
considered that... Does it work? Is there enough commonality to get
a message through? (my Morse so far has been primarily Englosh (not a
spelling error ) - example "wx hr is cldy / ovrcst, ant is a
dipole" -type stuff. A lot of English-based stuff - is that sort of
an accepted International language?

I know that there are variants of morse for other character sets
(cyrillic, for example) - I suppose that this might cause a problem
too...


Remember though, there is a difference between the adz and Morse CW.
hehe, the thought makes me chuckle. I look at it more like the way the
(Coast Guard?) has a sailed vessl for training on. There are many
important things that can be learned, even though those recruits are
using really ancient technology.

Good point.


BTW - grinding mirrors? Now there's something that requires a lot of
patience! Wow!

It is a tremendous amount of fun for me. I'm kind of an obsessive
compulsive person, and I can take out my tendencies on a mirror.
Grinding and polishing and testing are so darn much fun, and it's one
field where all the fussing pays off in the end.

More patience that I have, that's for sure. (or skill...nah, can't be
a skill thing..)

What I think leads to the decline in use is that it uses a very
expensive processor - a human. We've tried to take humans ot of the loop
for years now, or at least skilled ones. It is a lot easier to train a
person to hit a button and make a copy than it is to teach them
something like Morse code.


And this manifests itself in other areas than the CW arena. So many
people are using microprocessor-controlled, dial & talk radios these
days that a big piece of technical ability has been lost there too.
Last week, I had some guy tell me to get my rig fixed because it was
off frequency by about 20Hz. 20Hz - on my old analog Heath? With
that set, I was doing good to be within 100.... The gentleman didn't
know if his set had RIT, and was reluctant to QSY 20 Hz to 'correct my
problem' - really! Jeez.

And that I think is why the ARS can still get away with using Morse CW.
Our "wetware" does a superb job of translating the recieved signals, and
since this is a hobby/service/avocation, we aren't being paid, so we can
continue to economically use Morse/CW. In fact, the economics are the
reverse of what everyone elses are. They want to buy a piece of
equipment to replace an expensive human, and we already have - indeed
are stuck with the human - ourselves, and would have to spend extra
money for the needed equipment to work other emergency modes.


CW is by far the most economical mode of operation, from an equipment
standpoint - no argument there. Progress frequently has significant
costs associated, though - look at the millions that the owners of
general aviation aircraft will have to spend to replace all of the
current 121.5 / 223 MHz analog ELTs with the new digital 406.025 MHz
ones! (or, you could gamble and risk not being found for a long, long
time if you land off-airport somewhere.....)

Costs, as usual, passed down directly to the end user of the service.
Of course!

- Mike KB3EIA -

73, Leo