wrote in message
ps.com...

Scott Dorsey wrote:
wrote:
My greatest fear is that the FCC will totally do away with code in it's
testing requirements, which will logically lead to a mass spectrum
reassignment to make more room for voice and we will likely loose our
valuable spectrum space in the process. But once the last license goes
to SK what's to stop the FCC from giving it all away?

Well, one of the nice things about code is that you don't _need_ very
much bandwidth. And with modern DSP you should be able to make IF
filters
even narrower than my old R-390... should be possible to cram hundreds of
carriers into the space of one SSB channel.

So true, and low bandwidth helps CW get though when SSB would be
impossible. However, don't forget that CW can be done quite nicely with
a cheap computer, some simple cables and some free software without
learning it. I suppose that one could argue that a human ear can hear
what a computer can't, but I'd be willing to argue that point in favor
of the computer.


Actually, you would lose such an argument. There are many hams who have
proven that they can decipher better than the computer. The computer
hardware or software requires the following characteristics in the received
transmission to work:

1. A strong signal
2. No distortion on the signal such as occurs from aurora, meteor scatter,
etc.
3. The code sent is nearly equal in quality to that sent by a computer.
Some one using paddles may achieve that but if they are sending with a
manual key or bug, that is highly unlikely.

I have frequently been able to copy better than the computer and my code
skills are quite modest. The only time it beats me is when the code meets
the above three criteria and is too fast for me to copy.

I'll be willing to bet that there won't be much improvement over CW in
the raw "get the message though under bad conditions" power with the
new digital modes using the same bandwidth as CW. Simple is
under-rated in my book.


I'm not sure I understand what you are saying here. Did you leave something
out?

As an operating mode CW is alive and well and likely to stay, however
it will be computer driven more and more as the art dies off and new
blood is not required to learn it as well as the old.

Change is neither good or bad, it's just change.


While change is neither good or bad, sometimes the results of change can be
undesireable.

Dee, N8UZE