On Jan 11, 6:48�pm, "Michael J. Coslo" wrote:

Maybe it's because I am in a college town, and being around
fraternities, the word "test" has more than one meaning,
Fraternities
often have tests that really filter out who wants to join, and who
doesn't It's one of those red flag words.

Ah - good point.

if I were to promote Morse, I'd do it to people at the
other end of the spectrum.

Clubs like FISTS and SKCC do that.

I guess w';ll just have to disagree, Jim.

No problem!

let me try a different analogy.

If I wanted to have an exclusive club, one in
which I and others who I
thought had made the grade, and that I
wanted to be around, without
annoying new people, I would design it to
have a minimum requirement
well beyond what the base requirement
was - keeping in mind that the
original test was gone. Then I would
have something like prospective
members have to be nominated by
people who are already club members.

Which raises the proverbial chicken-and-egg question of how the club
could ever get started....

I
would do this in order to be sure
that only the right people got in.

Is this the case here? Not necessarily, but who knows.

One thing is for su the club appears to be growing fast. I printed
out the member roster a few days ago, and already it's way outdated
because there's a lot more members.

N2EY previously wrote:

One thing I have observed among amateurs
actually *using* Morse Code is
the friendship and comaraderie (sp?) and
general welcoming. I don't
hear the put-downs and such that are
claimed by others - not on the
air, anyway. Young or old, newcomer or
OT, fast or slow, QRP or high
power, it doesn't make any difference.

Well, my experience has been a little different.
On the air, it hasn't
been too bad, but in person, I've been told that
despite what I do for
amateur radio, I am a second class Ham
because I'm not a regular user
of CW.

I've been told that my physical issues notwithstanding, I can
never be a first class Ham, because it is like an athlete. Not
everyone can be a professional football player, because not
everyone
has the physical attributes. My hearing precludes me being
a real Ham.

I disagree with that very strongly!

Of course not everybody can be a world-class athlete nor even a
"professional" one. But almost everyone can be an athlete at somelevel.

I agree with Bill Rodgers, the famous marathoner (won Boston a couple
times IIRC). When someone asked him who *he* admires, he pointed to the
folks who run a marathon in four hours, as compared to his two-
hours-and-change. He said something on the order of 'they're out there
twice as long as I am, trying just as hard!'

And believe it or not, I was once called insane
because I gave the
same number of QSO points to RTTY and
PSK31 QSO's for scoring a
contest. That's the exact wording.

I've been called a lot worse, and a lot more times, for a lot less.

Some of these folks wanted the
double point value to be exclusively for CW Ops,
and were outraged
that I offered it to any other modes. That was personally
disappointing to say the least, because I've always stood up for the mo
de.

The operative word there is "some".

IMHO, when a person resorts to things like name-calling and personal
insults, it really says a lot more about the name-caller than the name-
callee. (if that's even a word).

Now as far as that goes, no problem. I'm
opinionated and realize that
the nail that sticks up is the one that gets
the hammer. For me, it's
just data points. I appreciate the mode,
and will continue to support
and promote it, because of it's historical,
practical, �and technical
value.

That's good.

But I've learned to not expect any appreciation for that.

Well, I appreciate it!

One of these years the PA QSO party will fall on a weekend when I don't
have ten other things going on - and then watch out!

Anyhow, it's been a good thread.

It's not over yet...

73 de Jim, N2EY