RadioBanter - View Single Post - You'll probably never have to use CW to save a life.

Dave Heil · September 6th 06, 02:50 AM posted to rec.radio.amateur.policy

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Dave Heil wrote:

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Dave Heil wrote:

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wrote:

From: an old friend on Sun, Sep 3 2006 10:09 am

Stewart, as I recall, succeeded HPM.

You are confusing Charles H. Stewart with Kenneth B. Warner. It was KBW
who succeeded HPM.

We're both wrong. Stewart also died in 1936. His death announcement
was in the same April, 1936 issue of QST as Maxim's. K.B. Warner was
never President of the ARRL. He was the Secretary. Maxim was succeeded
by Eugene Woodruff W8CMP of State College, Pennsylvania.

Yup.

KBW was also General Manager. He died in 1948.

KBW was a major part of ARRL from the early days until his death in the
late 1940s. IMHO he was as important in the 1930s and 40s as Maxim was
in the teens and 20s. KBW is just not as well known.

He was quite well known in his day. He was certainly a shaper of policy.
From what I've read, he was known as a tyrant among the staff.

Interesting.

It wasn't the first I'd heard of it but George Hart's serialized memoirs
in the QCWA Journal were the most recent.

ARRL kept promoting themselves as
"representative" allegedly for the amateur to the FCC but
suspiciously more like a "filter" of amateurs' opinions.

Why are you suspicious, Len? Anyone could petition the FCC directly,
and many did, long before the Internet and ECFS.

Len is suspicious of the League's elections of Directors too. Len is
suspicious of a number of things in which he isn't involved.

Have you forgotten the profile already?

I will never, ever forget the accurate profile of Len's likely actions.

Not so much "likely" as "practically guaranteed"

Yep.

What "incentive licensing" DID create was just the opposite of
"good fellowship" among amateurs, that of CLASS DISTINCTION
and a "pecking order" based largely on morsemanship.

How so?

Did you forget about the written tests?

Don't ruin his rant, Jim. He needs to massage a few facts to make
things fit with his conclusion.

Massage or mangle?

The effect is the same: to take facts and make them state something
different than they'd generally reveal.

IOW, to tell untruths.

Yes, to fabricate, to lie.

Fact is, ARRL proposed in 1963 that there be *no* additional code
testing for full privileges - just an additional written test.

Yup.

The
morsemen won it. Never mind that radio technology was already
far advanced from the 1930s' style of amateur radio and that
morse code was falling by the wayside in every other radio
service, the League still (stubbornly) held to the belief that
all amateurs "should" be able to be morse skilled...even four
decades after the 1930s.

How many other radio services used Morse Code in 1966, Len?

Let's see...there were the military, particularly the US Navy and Coast
Guard, the maritime services, various government agencies, some press
services, and of course amateur radio.

Was there a shortage of trained radiotelegraphers during the Vietnam
War?

The League lobbied for and got the "vanity license" system so
that olde-tymers could get their 1x2 and 2x1 super-special
guru-status callsigns. Even more status symbolism.

Should accomplishment not be rewarded?

Len shouldn't confuse the Vanity Callsign System with the earlier FCC
decisions, beginning in 1968 to award 1x2 calls to those who held the
Extra and had been licensed for a certan number of years.

Actually, there were forms of "vanity" callsigns long before 1968. In
fact, if you search qrz.com, you may still be able to find amateurs
with 1x2 callsigns who are not Extras.

My mentor, A.G. Timberlake W8MN was one. Andy held the General and
later the Advanced. He received the W8MN call by virtue of having
gotten his first ticket in 1923.

That was
later modified to include any Extra Class licensee without a minimum
number of years licensed. There was no periodic fee charged for those
callsign changes.

That's how I got N2EY in 1977. I simply asked FCC for a 1x2 when I
moved to New York State, and it was sequentially issued. I'd been an
Extra for seven years by then.

I was able to obtain K8MN in a similar manner, though I didn't opt for a
sequentially issued callsign. I requested a specific call. You were
way ahead of me in obtaining the Extra ticket. I didn't get mine until
1977.

It is clear that it really bothers Len that some of us got our amateur
licenses as "teeners", and rapidly progressed to the highest class of
license.

....in what he views as primarily an adult activity, heh.

Do you have a need to look down on everyone?

There are those doing something in which Len is not a participant. Some
of those who are participants are perceived by Len to have rank, status
and privilege. In amateur radio, Len would have to begin as all did--at
the bottom. He'd have no rank, status or privilege for quite some time.
There'd be those who would think they were "better" than him. There
are others who'd actually BE better than him. The thought chafes him.
Len isn't an instant anything in amateur radio. He isn't yet a neophyte.

Actually there's a bit more to it than that.

If you recall, Len once set out to get an amateur license, and
reportedly got up to 7 or 8 wpm before he gave up on learning Morse
Code.

You see, learning Morse Code was "hard work" for Len back then.

He's apparently one of those folks who does "book learnin'" rather
easily - let him read something and he'll lecture you on it endlessly.
Some of what he says will actually be right, too.

But often, after having read something, he'll lecture as if he is an
expert in a field, even when he has no actual experience. Reading about
rebuilding an automatic transmission is not the same as being able to
rebuild the contraption.

Exactly. Being able to describe a bicycle doesn't mean someone can ride
one.

But learning Morse Code to the 13 wpm level needed for a General
license turned out to be not so easy for Len, so he has held a grudge
about it for decades.

A couple of motor skills stymied him.

I don't think so.

I think what bothered him was that Morse Code was not so easy for him
to learn, and that he didn't see how he could make money with Morse
Code skill. That made it a bad thing to Len.

But if his decades-long interest in amateur radio was genuine, wouldn't
it figure that Len would have continued in his efforts to master morse.
Wouldn't he have done it for the love of radio? Must everything be
about making money?

Now you may wonder why, if Len could do 7 or 8 wpm at one point, he
didn't just get a Novice license, and improve his Morse Code skills by
operating, as most of us did.

The answer should be obvious: No way would Len allow himself to be
classified as a "Novice". That license did not carry the appropriate
title or status for him.

That's where I was going with my earlier comments. Len will not accept
being classified as a beginner in anything. He rants at length about
radio amateurs having "rank, status and privilege", when "rank status
and privilege" would seem to be very important to him.

So when you see those rants, remember that Len is really talking about
himself.

That's been quite clear for a very long time.

That's one of
the wonderful things about amateur radio. One can work in something
quite far afield from radio and still have a rich and rewarding
experience in amateur radio. One of my local friends works at a funeral
home. One works as a jail guard. One is a retired teacher. All find
much enjoyment in amateur radio.

Exactly. Amateur radio is "radio for its own sake".

...and if one isn't interested in the things radio amateurs do, why
would one be concerned with them? Why would one devote better than ten
years of his life to haunting an amateur radio newsgroup?

To damage/destroy amateur radio. Remember that he has commented to FCC
in great volume on a radio service in which he is completely
uninvolved.

But why? Is it only that Len was stymied in his efforts to master morse
code? Could it be that he was thwarted in obtaining a promotion by
someone who was a ham, or might he have been snubbed by a radio amateur?

Professional work, not some amateur dabbling,
yet I liked to make electronic things in my home
workshop.

Does being paid for something make someone automatically "better", Len?

It apparently does, unless it something made through dabbling in his
home workshop.

In case you've forgotten, Len did some writing for the now-defunct
amateur radio magazine "ham radio". He got paid for those articles, of
course. None of his articles were actual projects, though.

That hasn't stopped him for lambasting you over your own homebuilt
equipment.

He's just jealous. Not only is he unable to build a rig like mine, but
he is unable to use one. Not Qualified.

Shouldn't a PROFESSIONAL like Len be able to whip together something as
simple as a phasing-type SSB transmitter of his own design (he doesn't
care for equipement which appeared in QST or The Radio Amateur's
Handbook) in a week or two of spare time in his well equipped home workshop?

Maybe Len feels that undertaking anything which doesn't result in profit
for him, is simply beneath him.

Profile needs a rework to include that.

It is hardly worth the bother. After all, the profile has been correct
95% of the time.

Things other than work-related tasks. It
is FUN, personally rewarding, not "work."

But not rewarding enough for you to get an amateur radio license, it
seems.

...and learning morse would apparently be "work" for Leonard.

"hard work", actually. That's why he gave up on it.

...and the experience hardened his heart.

and mind...

....and set hime upon a course to damage amateur radio.

Once, a very long time ago, I thought that becoming a
"ham" was a cool deal. That was before the commsats,
before technology had fully gotten with the semi-
conductor era, before the wonderful way we can get
over most of the world via PCs and the Internet.

What about your posting of January 19, 2000?

In addition to that, what about the fact that he is paying for internet
service and that invariably, that internet circuit goes through wires
somewhere? The cellular telephone is a wonderful thing too, but it
isn't a substitute for amateur radio. It'd be pricey too.

Why
IS it that some have to be a grand champion of the
1930s over seven decades later? What are THEY trying
to prove? I could care less about 1930s technology
and the "radio standards" of then. I live in the NOW.

Then why do you tell us so much about your past?

If he didn't, he couldn't regale us with tales of his days in Big Time
HF radio!

btw, if you are *not* interested in becoming a ham, why are you so
vocal about the requirements?

Didn't you know, Jim? Len's made himself an ADVOCATE for
something-or-other.

Keeping real estate zoning regulations as they were 40+ years ago?

That's one, but the real estate thing was only to serve his personal
interest. Regarding amateur radio, Len's advocacy is...Hey, wait a
minute! Do you suppose Len's self-appointment to advocacy in amateur
radio regulation is self-serving?

Ya broke da cipher!

Well, it wasn't as if it was issued by the NSA.

Note that Len's real estate thing was an attempt to prevent others from
doing what they wanted with their property.

....to the benefit of those who had already built. He didn't care about
those about to begin construction, those who came after he did. He was
only concerned about the good old boys club made up of those who had
already contructed buildings. He wanted to stick to the old ways, the
established ways. He wanted no changes to his turf.

Gee, Len, it's been more than three years since the ITU treaty changed.
Some countries have eliminated Morse Code testing, some haven't, and at
least one (Canada) has worked out a unique solution to the debate.
Meanwhile the USA rules on the subject haven't changed since 2000.

Are you frustrated because your will has not become law...yet?

Whether Len is ever a radio amateur or not, I'm not going to lose any
sleep over it.

Nor I. Besides, it's just not going to happen.

I think they'll pry a microphone from Len's cold, dead fingers. Of
course it won't be connected to an amateur radio transmitter.

Len should be working on improving his Morse Code skills.

There's as much chance of that happening as his flapping his wings and
flying to Malibu.

Dave K8MN