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KØHB wrote:
When I first became involved in electronics, slide rules were
the one
absolutely necessary calculation tool owned by every engineer
and
technician. They were simple, uncomplicated, easy to use
(after some
period of rather tedious practice), and delightfully low tech.

Then, as the giant asteroid was to dinosaurs, overnight the
$9.95
pocket calculator killed the slide rule. Despite it's ubiquity and
utter simplicity the mighty slide rule went extinct in
less than a decade!

Yup. Saw it happen.


On another front, when I first became involved in
amateur radio, Morse
code was the one absolutely necessary communications mode
used by every ham.

When was that, Hans? Hams have been using 'phone since
the 1920s if not earlier. By the early 1930s there were
a handful of hams on SSB.

There *was* a time when license renewal required a certain
amount of time on the air using Morse. But that was gone
by about 1950 or so.

Before 1991, every US ham had to "use Morse Code" at least
once - to get a license.


It was simple, uncomplicated, easy to use (after some period of
rather tedious practice) and delightfully low tech.

Still is!

It was the amateur
communication mode-of-choice for over three generations.

Which three?

Then, as the giant asteroid was to dinosaurs,
overnight..........

Not much happened.

Your analogy falls apart in a couple of places, Hans.

First off, the introduction of calculators did indeed pretty
much wipe out the use of slide rules. But the introduction of
other modes to ham radio has not wiped out the use of Morse
Code.

Second, very few people do calculation as an end in itself.
They're almost always doing it to reach a goal - as a means
to an end, whether it be how many turns go on the toroid to
how many studs are needed in a wall 29' 8" long if they're
on 16" centers.

But ham radio is largely about radio for its own sake.

The introduction of outboard motors did not kill off rowboats
and sailboats. The invention of the bicycle and roller skates
did not eliminate walking and running. Etc.


I became a ham in 1967, back when a lot of hams were giving up
their separate HF transmitters and receivers for transceivers.
That trend had started almost 10 years earlier and by the time
I came along the selection of transceivers was greater than the
selection of separates.

Yet none of the amateur HF transceivers on the market back then was
very good for Morse Code. Almost all lacked sharp filters, RIT, and AGC
OFF. Some didn't even cover the whole band! They
were SSB transceivers first and Morse Code capability was
tacked on. Even the expensive Collins KWM-2 was pretty awful
on Morse Code.

I remember hams back then telling me that the use of Morse Code
by hams was obviously on the way out, because the big manufacturers
were focused on making SSB rigs. Some of them
laughed at my efforts to set up a good Morse Code ham rig on
a slim budget, saying there would be nobody left to talk to
with that mode soon, and that all the 'modern' hams were buying
HF SSB transceivers.

It wasn't until the mid 1970s that amateur HF transceivers with
decent Morse Code performance showed up on the market. Most of
them were made in Japan, or by an upstart company called Ten Tec.
Even then things like a sharp filter were extra-cost options.

Yet the use of Morse Code by hams continued, and does so today,
40 years after I was told the mode was all but dead.

73 de Jim, N2EY


Hello, Jim

There was always the Q-multiplier for us money challenged folks

Heathkit Q-1, was it? I had one and it did a decent job with that lousy
Halliscratcher S-20R.


73 from Rochester, NY
Jim AA2QA