Carl R. Stevenson wrote:
wrote in message
ups.com...
Carl R. Stevenson wrote:
Here's an interesting, but short-term, lmited lifetime idea for you folks
who want to promote code learning.

The Lehigh Valley Amateur Radio Club has ammassed $100.00 to present as
an
award to the last *club member* to pass Element 1 for an upgrade at a
*club-sponsored* ARRL VE session before the new rules come into effect
and
the Element 1 test moves out of the rule book and into the history books.

How will it be decided who is the last one?

Presumably by the club's VE team. (By the way I may not have made it clear,
but the "offer" only counts for folks who take Element 1 *after* the release
of the order and (oviously) prior to its effective date.)

OK - they probably have figured out how to decide it.

(Actually, it was announced last week at this month's club meeting that
"several benefactors" had contributed a total of $70.00 to the cause and
I
just *had* to immediately kick in an additional $30.00 on behalf of NCI
to
make it an even hundred :-)

omigawd that's hilarious, Carl! I wish W3RV and I coulda been there
when you did that....

I really didn't do it to be funny

I know - that makes it even funnier! ;-)

Besides, it woulda been worth the trip just to see 'RVs reaction and
hear the
growled commentary.....

... but it would have been good to see you guys.

Would have been good to see you too. Too bad you couldn't make it down
here
the time W1RFI in town, that was a really good time.

As I said, this is a short-term (limited lifetime) opportunity. If you
want
to *continue* to promote code learning, great, but you'll have to come up
with a new idea ...

Here are 10 ways to promote Morse Code. (The "you" in the following is
aimed at the person who wants to promote the mode):

1) Use Morse Code on the air. For ragchewing, DXing, contesting,
traffic handling, QRP, QRO, QRS, QRQ, whatever floats yer boat. If your
favorite band is crowded, try another and/or get a sharper filter. If
you contest, even a little, send in your logs, photos, soapbox
comments, etc. Our presence on the air is essential - one of the
reasons FCC took away so much of 80 is that they were convinced it
wasn't being used. Our presence on the air is more important than ever.


2) Work on your Morse Code skills. Got a CP certificate?

But not just speed alone. Can you send and receive a message in
standard form? Can you do it faster than someone on 'phone?
Can you do both "head copy" and write it down? How about copying on a
mill? Ragchewing? Contesting? Being able to have a QSO at slow as well
as fast speeds?


3) Find a local club that does Field Day and go out with them.
Particularly if they have little or no Morse Code activity on FD now.
Help with their Morse Code efforts however you can - operating,
logging, setting up, tearing down, etc. FD is one way to actively
demonstrate 21st Century Morse Code *use*. Talking to people about
Morse isn't nearly so effective as showing them.


4) Set up a Morse Code demo at a local hamfest/club meeting/air
show/town fair/middle school etc. Not as some sort of nostalgia thing
but as a demonstration that Morse Code is alive and in use today.


5) Conduct training classes - on the air, in person, over the 'net,
whatever. Help anybody who wants to learn. Could be as simple as giving
them some code tapes or CDs, or as involved as a formal course at a
local community center.


6) Elmer anybody who wants help - even if they're not interested in
Morse Code at all. Your help and example may inspire them.


7) Write articles for QST/CQ/Worldradio/K9YA Telegraph/Electric
Radio/your local hamclub newsletter etc. Not about the code *test* nor
about Morse Code history, the past, etc., but about how to use Morse
Code *today*. For example, how about an article on what rigs are best
for Morse Code use, and why? Or about the differences between a bug,
single-lever keyer, iambic A and iambic B? Your FD experiences with
Morse Code? (QST, June, 1994) Yes, you may be turned down by the first
mag you submit it to - but keep submitting.


8) Get involved in NTS, QMN, ARES, whatever, and use Morse Code there.
The main reason so much emergency/public service stuff is done on voice
is because they don't have the people - skilled operators - to use any
other mode.

Actually, I believe that the main reason that most emergency/public service
stuff is done using voice (or digital modes) is that they're faster and more
convenient to use in a "tactical" situation.

Probably a combination of factors when all is said and done. Point is,
without
operators it's not going to happen.

9) Join FISTS & SKCC and any other group that supports Morse. Give out
numbers to those who ask for them even if you're not a contester/award
collector.


10) Forget about "the test". It will be gone soon and FCC won't bring
it back. Yes, a lot of us think they made a bad decision, but that's
nothing new, just look at BPL or their rulings on the sale of broadcast
radio stations.

Please don't compare this with BPL ...

Let me clarify:

The BPL comparison is made simply to point out that just because FCC
decides something doesn't make it "right" or the best thing. That's the
only point I was trying to make. Perhaps there's a better analogy for
when govt.
decides something that a sizable part of the population doesn't want.

I support the ARRL's actions against
BPL and encourage all hams to do so.

Same here!

I contributed $1k to the Spectrum
Defense Fund - earmarked to fund their BPL efforts and I encourage everyone
to make as generous a donation as they can afford.

You've done a lot more than that in the BPL situation, Carl.

You not only contributed money. You went to at least one operating BPL
site
(you may have done more than one, I'm not sure) and made observations
and
documented them. You used both your professional and amateur
expetise/experience
to present those documented observations in comments to FCC about the
reality of harmful interference from BPL. Very good stuff all around.

FCC won't preserve our standards and values - we have to do it.

And our attitude is a key part of that (pun intended). If we're seen as
a bunch of old grumpy gus types, not many will want to join us. But if
we present ourselves as a fun-loving, welcoming,
young-at-heart-and-mind, helpful group with useful skills,
similar people will want to join us.

Presenting CW as "something fun" is fine (as long as the presentee is
allowed to decide for him/her self whether it's really fun or not :-)

Of course. Some people find Morse Code to be fun, others not. Some
find the technology end of ham radio to be fun, others not.

Presenting it as a "standard" or "value" (implying that without CW you're as
Larry and others used to say "not a REAL ham" is not the way.

I've never written that someone isn't "a real ham" without Morse Code
skill.
Nor have I implied it - ever. Of course some might infer what wasn't
implied...;-)

What makes a person "a real ham" is much more complex than any single
skill or knowledge set.

My whole point in the above is that if someone considers Morse Code
skill
- or any other skill or knowledge - to be part of the standards or
values of
Amateur Radio, then it's up to *them* to promote said standards and
values,
by example, rather than expecting FCC to do it in the form of
regulations, tests,
etc. And that's all I was trying to say.

Those who like CW should take comfort ... by all reports, in most of the
other countries that have eliminated the CW requirement, MORE people are
learning it now that before - folks may choose to do something if it's
presented right and their choice, but tend not to like having things forced
upon them.

It would turn out to be the ultimate irony in the whole debate if Morse
Code
test elimination wound up making the mode even *more* popular than it
is today!

73 es HNY de Jim, N2EY