"Mike Coslo" wrote in message
...
N2EY wrote:
In article , Keith
writes:


On Sun, 27 Jul 2003 01:50:46 GMT, "Dee D. Flint"
wrote:


A 5wpm code test does not discriminate against Americans with
disabilities.
Disabled people have passed while their unhandicapped brethren have sat
on
the sideline whining about the code.

Explain to me why a deaf person should now need to know morse code?


Deaf people have used Morse Code in ham radio.


When the
silly horse and buggy test was rammed down their throats by the US
government
they could use lights. Now how is a deaf person supposed to use morse
code
sitting in their home listening to the radio?


Simple. They rest fingers on a speaker cone and feel the vibrations.
It's benn
done many times by deaf people. Just like many deaf people dance by
feeling the
rhythm the music through their feet.

Also, many deaf people have some limited hearing. It is not unusual for
them to
be able to hear single tones but not undersatand speech.


With modern digital
communications like PSK31, Pactor and RTTY a deaf person can enjoy ham
radio.


Hams have been using Baudot RTTY for almost 60 years....


And as always they can use a computer to decode morse code as they have
in
the past. But for them to learn morse code through some silly light
system is
pure discrimination because the deaf have no way of decoding morse by
ear.


Yet the various advocacy groups for handicapped people have never
protested the
amateur radio test regulations. Indeed, the group "Handi-Hams" was
AGAINST the
medical waiver rule change back in 1990, as I recall.


The morse code test for deaf people is pure discrimination and now that
s25.5 no longer requires a proficiency to know and send morse code the
FCC
better move fast to remove this discrimination.


If you're going to go that route, then all of the questions in the
written
tests about voice modes have to go as well, because there's no way deaf
people
are going to use SSB, either. Take out the questions on PSK-31, RTTY,
etc.,
because blind people won't use those modes. Get rid of the Extra and
General
class written tests entirely because there are people who can't pass
them, but
who can pass the Tech written. And since FCC says the Tech test is
adequate for
all authorized modes, bands and power on amateur VHF/UHF, why is any
more
written testing needed for HF beyond a few band-edge questions?


Don't you get it Jim? This is EXACTLY where they are headed. NTI is
undergoing birth! The no-discrimination angle is cute but flawed, but
hey, they are flush with their recent success, so the sky is the limit
now. And besides, they might get people to buy the argument.

- Mike KB3EIA -


Mike, there's just not as many of those types of individuals you are
describing as "they" to make a change at all. Just as there are not enough
of the Larry Rolls and Dick Carrolls to make CW as miserable as some (the
"they" you describe) think it is.

You may wish to blame the de-emphasis on CW on people. But, it's a
combination of losing traditional values, a decrease in the use of CW in
major communication venues, and the fact that the FCC is a governmental
organization that responds to national and world trends. It's much more
about anything BUT people than many realize, IMHO.

There's way more people who are middle ground.

Kim W5TIT


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