"Carl R. Stevenson" wrote in message
...

"Dwight Stewart" wrote in message
.. .

It's not just a matter of national defense, Len. The pool of trained
operators concept also applies to civil defense, public service, and so
on.
As such, the concept is just as valid today.

True, but the paradigm has changed. When CW was the ONLY, or
even the DOMINANT mode of communication via radio, the need for
a pool of (CW) trained operators was legitimate.

That is no longer the case. Trained ops, yes, but trained in what is
actually USED in modern day emergency communications, which is
overwhelmingly voice (VHF/UHF and HF SSB, and data modes).

Carl - wk3c

CW is a data mode. All other data modes change too fast along the lines of
"flavor of the month". Which data mode would you propose be used for
emergency communications. There is RTTY, Amtor, packet, Gtor, pactor,
PSK31, and a host of others. PSK31 is new enough that there is activity
generated by its very newness but will it last? Even now the techies are
moving on to the "next generation" version of PSK31. Outside of PSK31 and
RTTY, the other computer aided digital modes are now scarce to non-existent
on the HF bands.

In a practical sense, the computer aided digital modes won't be as useful as
some people like to tell themselves since there just aren't that many people
working any one mode.

Dee D. Flint, N8UZE