On Sun, 09 Jul 2006 20:46:16 -0400, "J. D. B."
wrote:

Dee, the issue is that many old hams know CW, but cannot operate most
new digital modes.

And many of us know CW, originated some digital modes (you think
teen-agers invented everything?) and can certainly operate most, if
not all, of them. We had working RTTY (that's digital) regenerating
repeaters (thanks, Norm) before most current hams were even born.

If PSK cannot be used due to ionospheric disturbances, well then either
can CW.

Not true - the human brain is a more efficient detector than a
computer sound card in some cases.

Computers can be operated on battery or generator. You are
going to need something to power the radio right? Does not take much
more for a laptop and with digital modes, the power can be much less so
there is more power for the laptop.

You can get a CW signal to anywhere in the world with a 9 volt battery
for a few hours. You can't run a pocket PC on that kind of power.

Your comparison of voice, digital modes and CW shows you have little
knowledge of what you are talking about. I have personally used digital
modes when voice and CW were not able to be copied.

And I have personally used CW when digital modes weren't even
detectable, let alone copyable. So have many people who have used CW
for extremely low signal work. Try decoding a PSK signal that's been
bounced off an aurora. (The phase is constantly rolling - there's
nothing for the detector to detect.) Aurora CW sounds weird (okay, it
makes "weird" boring), but it's easy to copy.

Finally, I happen to like CW a lot. But I don't think it makes anyone a
better operator for knowing it, you should not be tested on it anymore
than any other mode.

Okay - the same then. You're tested on your ability to understand
English, and to read the written word - that covers voice and digital.
Let's test for CW. Not "more", just "same".

Yes, there are a lot of seniors using digital, but
there are too many more hanging on to the old crap CW only and tubes.

And too many youngsters who think that it it's old it's automatically
crap.