Larry Roll K3LT wrote:



True -- when the "emergency" is confined to a small locality and the VHF/
UHF repeater infrastructure remains intact. However, what if there is a
widespread disaster -- such as the "Big One" striking the San Andreas fault
line in California? That will not be a "local" disaster -- it will affect the
entire country. Vast regions hundreds of miles in radius will be affected,
and the commercial communications and existing Amateur Radio
infrastructures and the power grids they depend on will be disrupted for
God only knows how long. At that point, we could be talking about areas
with populations of hundreds of thousands of people being out of
communication with the area "outside" the disaster zone. Communications
nets spanning many times the normal operational range of terresterial
VHF/UHF systems will be necessary -- and don't look now, but we're
coming to the downside of the solar cycle -- meaning poor propagation.
I guarantee you that there will be lots of opportunities for No-Code HF
Ham Heroes to help out, but when conditions dictate the use of CW, in
order to be able to communicate when voice and data modes fail due to
lack of available electrical power or poor atmospherics, that capability
will not be available because it will not have been learned. That's when
some guy like me will enter the picture, and say, "Step aside, Sonny,
and take your toy microphone with you." Then he'll plug in his key and
re-establish contact with the outside world. Of course, you will never
be convinced that that could happen -- so you'll just have to hope it doesn't.
In the meantime, I'll be ready!

John, you have to realize that Larry and his huge ego are just
waiting for the above scenario to happen so he can "save the
world" with his CW skills. He is in complete denial that when this
big disaster happens, he and his CW skills will mean nothing. I
can just see him waving his code key shouting "I can save the day
with my CW" at the officials who will laugh their ass off at him.
Read his "step aside Sonny" above and the picture of Larry and his
ego becomes very clear.
I have been a ham for over forty years, have participated in many
disaster situations, and I have never seen conditions where CW
was the only means of communication that would get through, even
at the bottom of the solar cycles. Guys like Larry live in a "I am
superior to you because of my CW skills" dream world.