John Smith wrote:
N2EY:

You should be ashamed of yourself-

Why?

-you damn well know young cw'ers are
rarer than...

How would you know, John?

You've told us you don't use Morse Code. So how would you
know how many young hams there are using the mode?

You've made fun of the mode and those who use it. A young ham
who uses and likes Morse Code would probably just avoid you,
rather than get involved in a confrontation with you.

Most are no-code licenses!

How do you know?

Here's a clue:

- Age information in the FCC database is incomplete. The birthdate
of some but not all licensees are in there. The times when age
information was collected are such that the ages of young hams may be
underrepresented in the database.

- Not all Technicians are "nocodetest". The FCC has been renewing all
Technician and Technician Plus licenses as Technician for more than 5
years, and in less than 5 more years there will be no more Technician
Pluses at all, because they will all have either expired or been
renewed as Technicians. In that same time period,
Novices who pass Element 2 get Technician licenses, not Technician
Pluses. And any Technician who passes Element 1 is still shown as
Technician on the database.

- You haven't defined "young" - does it mean hams under age 20? 30? 40?
Does it mean hams licensed less than a year? 5 years? 10 years?

Perhaps you have simply concluded that the code test is the
boogeyman responsible for all problems in the amateur radio service,
and that when it's gone, all will be well.


-


wrote in message
ups.com...
John Smith wrote:
I just support removing code because no new hams are using it in any
meaningful numbers.

I've seen plenty of new hams use Morse Code on the air. And plenty who
use other modes. What information do you have to show that "no new
hams
are using it in any meaningful numbers."

The new state of the art hams are interested in hooking a modem up
and
interfacing the radio to the computer...

Some are - some aren't.

Hook up a code key and they loose interest immediately...

Depends on how you present it. And the word is "lose"....

Now, a bunch of old guys who are computer illiterate have no choice
than
to try to amuse themselves with a damn key...

Well, that leaves me out, because I'm neither old nor computer
illiterate.


"Jim Hampton" wrote in message
...
John,

You could make the same assertion about a driver's license.
Memorize
some
rules and take a road test.

Do you support eliminating motor vehicle tests? Perhaps only for
college
educated folks?

Might it make sense to require folks to know where the band edges
are,
or
would you think it doesn't matter.

If you travel to the U.K., do you think it might be smart to
understand that
they drive on the *left* side of the road rather than the right?
Even
if
you are a pedestrian?

I suspect you'd be upset if someone started transmitting on your
Direct Tv
frequencies and killed your reception. There are rules and folks
wishing
licenses are supposed to demonstrate some knowledge of those rules.
These
rules do not require the calculus, yet even a college grad has to
demonstrate some knowledge of them.

73 from Rochester, NY
Jim AA2QA


"John Smith" wrote in message
...
... the amateur tests are a trivial problem to men with real
educations...

... the cw part makes as much sense as learning to play a "jew's
harp"--a lot of sense if you wish to, none if you don't...

Warmest regards,
John