wrote in message
ups.com...
Bill Sohl wrote:
wrote in message
ups.com...
Bill Sohl wrote:
wrote in message
ups.com...
Obviously they haven't actually
listened to the parts of the ham bands where
Morse Code is used.

Model Ts aren't dead.
Tailwheel airplanes aren't dead. Neither is CW.

True enough.

However, the driver's license test doesn't include hand-
cranking Model T
engines, nor does the airplane certificate test include
3-point landings in tailwheel airplanes.

That's because the percentage of autos with handcranks is very
small. So is the percentage of taildragger aircraft.

Better example from the auto anology is manual gearboxes.
There are significant numbers of new vehicles made every
day which have manual gearboxes...but no state mandates
driver testing on a manual gearbox to be able to drive one.

Last statistics I saw were that 5% of new cars have manual
transmissions. The other 95% sold today are automatics.

Agreed, but in terms of total vehicles sold new each year
in the US, that is several hundred thousand vehicles
with stick shifts every year.

Out of total sales in the millions. A tiny niche market. In fact,
almost all cars can be ordered with an automatic transmission, but many
*cannot* be ordered with a manual transmission.

Morse Code accounts for a lot more than 5% of amateur radio
HF/MF operation.

The point still reverts to the exclusivity (i.e. stand-alone)
testing for one mode and one mode only. No other mode, or
subject area is so tested for an amateur license.

Sure - because no other popular mode requires skills the
average person does not already posess.

Digital modes involve a certain skill level at typing.
No one is tested to be sure they can operate at
X wpm minimum speed. Additionally, what's wrong with
a ham starting out at even 1 wpm on the air. Why
must there be a minimum skill level. Two no-code
techs can do that now on VHF. What's so special
about HF vs VHF. Clearly the international community
no longer sees the need for a morse skill test.

How many hams would have to learn to talk in order to use voice
modes? How many would have to learn to read and type to use keyboard
modes?

What's different about Morse Code is that most new hams today have to
learn it just for amateur radio. And that, IMHO, is what bugs some
folks so much.

Probably so.

But the percentage of ham stations on HF/MF using Morse
Code is much, much higher.

So? Nothing in the amateur rules requires anyone to every
make a CW QSO, or, for that matter any contact
using any mode at all.

Exactly. Yet there are all sorts of test questions on things no ham is
required to do.

Why?

Read again the following:
The point still reverts to the exclusivity (i.e. stand-alone)
testing for one mode and one mode only. No other mode, or
subject area is so tested for an amateur license.

The issue is and always has been
the exclusive CW test in comparison to knowledge
tested for any other modes.

Without knowledge of those other modes, you can't get a
license, even if all you want to do is to use Morse Code.

Wrong....you can ignore or not learn about several specific
subject areas...one or more modes of operation, etc. and
still get a passing test grade.

That depends entirely on what you consider a "subject area". If you
define "subject area" as "questions about SSB voice", one could
probably get all the questions about SSB voice wrong and still pass -
*if* almost all of the others were answered correctly.

But if you define "subject area" as "questions about voice modes", it's
doubtful that one could get all the questions about voice modes wrong
and still pass - even if almost all of the others were answered
correctly.

You assume ALL unknown questions would be answered wrong.
Test taking 101 sez for ALL questions you don't know the answer to
pick C. Doing so for 10 questions the test taker has no clue on
is bound to net at least 2 or 3 correct answers.

However, the remaining Morse Code test is probably
going away soon.

Just a matter of time.

Probably.

Why hang on to an obsolete technology on the EXAM for
those who choose not to participate in the obsolete mode?

"Obsolete"? Morse Code is the second most popular mode
in HF amateur radio.

Why are there written exams with questions on electronics
for those who chose not to build their radios?

No separate test exists for only the electronics.

Nope - but try to pass the exam without electronics knowledge.

It still isn't a separate exclusive test.

Doesn't have to be.

If you get all
the other stuff (rules, regs, etc) 100%, you can miss
a greater percentage of electronic questions then
if it was a separate subject area test.

But you can't miss all of them.

But let's say you get 50% of those. Then you may end up
passing the test if all the other stuff (rules/regs) is answered
correctly. That isn't the case for the stand-alone morse
test.

The fact of the matter is that the current written tests involve a lot
of subject areas, but not in a lot of depth. Morse Code testing
involves one subject area, in somewhat more depth (although at 5 wpm,
"depth" becomes somewhat questionable).

It's like saying we have a manual-transmission test where the
person must get the car in first gear and drive around an empty parking
lot at 5 mph for one minute. And folks say that's too much to ask!

And the IARU plus the WRC have stated it isn't required. They have
left the choice to each individual administration...and that's where we
are today in USA regs. The FCC has said it will end all morse
testing (NPRM 05-235). Commentors are now and have been
submitting their views for a month or more already. I haven't
seen even ONE persuasive new argument to save code testing.
All the procode test support argumennts are the same ones
as before which the FCC has already reviewed and dismissed.

The written is
scored on an overall basis....not on a subject area stand-alone
basis.
Add some CW questions (similar in format to existing
questions on the phonetic alphabet) to the tests then.

What Canada has done solves that problem.

Works for me.

Moreover, there aren't special lanes on the road for Model
Ts,
nor are there special runways for tailwheel airplanes.

But there are special lanes on some roads for cars
only, high-occupancy vehicles only, etc.

There are sidewalks and trails on which motor vehicles
are banned.

Why are there special segments of
the band for CW.

The only CW-only parts of the US ham bands are
50.0-50.1 MHz and 144.0-144.1 MHz.
All other HF "CW" subbands are shared with
digital/data modes.

Correct.

So would you support a reasonable set of Morse Code only subbands,
Bill? Say, the bottom 10-15% of each HF ham band?

I've said before that I have no problem with doing so.
Within the USA, we could do so via ARRL voluntary
bandplans without ever involving the FCC.
Doing so might actually serve as a good incentive for some
folks to learn and use morse. Makes far more sense to
me than trying to keep the test itself.

Cheers and I see my July 06 prediction becoming more of a
possibility every day that passes now.

Let's see...comments close sometime this fall...FCC takes
six months to produce the R&O, coming out in early
spring 2006...effective early summer 2006.

You may be the winnah!

The Pool is still ongoing.

One thing I notice about FCC R&Os for the amateur service is that
they almost never put changes into effect on the first of a month -
always midmonth or something like that.

We'll see.

Cheers,
Bill K2UNK