dxAce wrote:

If one can't learn even a minimum 5 WPM then they have no business in amateur
radio.

Could you please explain why you say that.

To state the obvious, CW is just one of *many* modes available to hams;
moon bounce, meteor scatter, lots of digital modes (PSK, MFSK, RTTY,
Hellschrieber and probably a few I missed), slow scan TV, fast scan TV,
APRS and on and on.

CW-just another mode. Why test for it and not test for, say, moon
bounce? You probably missed it, but a while ago the FCC said CW was
required in the old days when CW was primarily used for marine
safety-they didn't want hams to be transmitting over distress calls.
That was it. Period. As you are well aware, CW for maritime applications
is virtually dead.

Before you think I am a whining, sniveling "no coder", I am a 20 wpm
Extra who operates 20% digi modes and 80% CW, fairly comfortable at
25-30 wpm.

And puh-leze, don't even think about trotting out the old saw that "I
had to learn the code so the new guys should too". That's akin to saying
everyone should hand crank the engine on their car rather than using
those new fangled $#@*^! electric starters.

73,
Carter K8VT