"Dee D. Flint" wrote in message
gy.com...

"Dwight Stewart" wrote in message
link.net...
"N2EY" wrote:
"Dwight Stewart" writes:

You haven't established, at least not to my
satisfaction (nor the satisfaction of the ITU,
FCC, and several countries around the
world), why Morse code is necessary
(notice I said necessary, not enjoyable)
for ham radio today.

You mean the code itself, or the test?


In the context of that sentence, code itself.



Just a few short weeks ago, auroral activity imposed so much distortion on
HF voice that it was not useable. At the same time, the distortion on the
HF computer operated digital modes was great enough that the computer
could
not decipher them. Of the computer operated digital modes, the newest one,
PSK31, failed first. RTTY held up a bit longer but it also failed.
Although
distortion on the HF CW/Morse signal also existed, the human brain version
of a computer could and did decipher the signals into intelligible, useful
data when all other modes were useless. The choice was operate code or
turn
off the HF radio. If code is not necessary in ham radio today, then
neither
is HF itself.

Dee D. Flint, N8UZE



While I try to avoid posting to my own comments, I see that I need to add
additional information.

This phenomenon becomes more severe the further north that your station is.
It was quite noticeable here in Michigan but it would have been less severe
in places like South Carolina where QRZ shows Dwight lives. Southern
stations may merely have noticed the absence of northern stations on the air
if they noticed anything at all.

Dee D. Flint, N8UZE