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On 24 Sep 2003 03:18:20 GMT, ospam (Larry Roll K3LT)
wrote:

Sure it is. Part of the basis and purpose of the ARS as specified in
Part 97 is to develop a pool of trained radio operators. Since nobody
else uses CW anymore, it is no longer necessary to develop pools of
Morse-trained radio operators.

Did you see that everybody? "...nobody uses CW anymore." Yup,
he REALLY said that!

Do me a favor, John, and tell that to K2RSK next time you see him!

Uh, time out, Larry.

Take another look at what was quoted, Larry. It does not say, "Nobody
uses CW anymore." What it says is, "Nobody ELSE uses CW anymore."

There is no longer any use of CW in U.S. commercial, government, or
military radio communications. In the maritime HF bands you'll still
find some individual radio ops chit-chatting on the ship-to-ship
simplex frequencies using CW, but that's the extent of it. CW is no
longer used for passing message traffioc ship-to-ship and is no longer
used to communicate with the shore stations (which abandoned CW three
years ago, a fact that was well-publicized in the radio magazines and
on the Internet discussion groups).

I will assume this is an honest mistake on your part and that even you
aren't so low as to stoop to deliberately overlooking the word "else"
in what I posted. The amateur radio service is the only radio service
left where CW is used by any significant percentage of the operators.
You should know that as well as the rest of us do, right?

Now, back to our regularly scheduled discussion, already in progress:

Valuable? In some respects, perhaps. It does have its advantages,
although it also has its disadvantages.

Whaaaaat? I thought you just said "...nobody uses CW anymore."

That's what you get for thinking instead of reading what was actually
posted, I guess. Put your bloody glasses on and try again!

Well, anyway, please enumerate all the "disadvantages" of the
Morse/CW mode.

1. Use of this mode requires that the operator at the other end of the
circuit can copy code. Half the hams licensed in the U.S. are at
Technician. Many hams licensed at General and Extra learned the code
well enough to pass Element 1 and want nothing more to do with it.
Even hams who passed code tests at higher speeds no longer use it.
Even if they did pass the test, chances are they haven't used it on
the air (probably never had any intention of doing so, since all they
wanted to do was pass the stupid test so they could upgrade and gain
the privileges they were really interested in), so they probably can't
even zero-beat to your signal. There's no guarantee of finding an op
at the other end with any proficiency in copying the code, especially
at any significant speed, which means that even if you do find a ham
who went through the testing procedures recently enough to still
remember the alphabet, you're going to have to send pretty slowly in
order for what you send to be copied, which means that...

2. You can get the same message through faster using another mode.
At 5wpm (which is the fastest code speed that any US-licensed ham is
required to be able to copy), in the time it takes to send a 2x3
callsign in CW, you can send a couple of whole sentences on phone.

For that matter, in sixty seconds at 5 WPM, you can send 12 words. You
can also send an entire picture in SSTV in sixty seconds - and, as we
all know, one picture is worth a thousand words. :-)

3. Because of the narrow bandwidth of a CW signal, CW ops tend to
operate rather close together, requiring an optional filter for most
rigs to be able to zero in on one and only one signal. The same rig
out of the box will have a much easier time zeroing in on one and only
one phone signal - assuming that ops observe the courtesy of keeping
7kc or so between themselves and the nearest frequency in use.

4. I'm aware of at least one rig that's been manufactured over the
past ten years or so that doesn't even *have* the CW mode. RadioShack,
one of your former employers, sold a 10m rig like this. For all I
know, there are others as well. Hard to work somebody in CW when their
rig doesn't have that capability, wouldn't you say?

Want me to continue?

Basic? I'm not too sure of that. It was once upon a time. I'm inclined
to think that time is either passed, or very close to it. I don't know
what percentage of hams is sufficiently skilled with the mode to
actually use it for on-air contacts, but surely the percentage must be
shrinking daily.

And just exactly what do you think is causing that, John?

What, reading comprehension problem, Larry? :-)

Obviously, it's because there is a growing percentage of hams who are
not interested in using a method of communication that was originally
conceived over 150 years ago, and descended from a method of sending
messages over hardwired telegraph lines.

As for the code testing requirement being essential to the continued
use of the mode - if that's the case, then the patient is already
brain dead and being kept alive through purely artificial means, and
will expire anyway as soon as somebody pulls the plug, either
accidentally or deliberately. The question then becomes, for how long
do we prolong the inevitable, and for what purpose?

I'm not suggesting that we pull the plug. I'm suggesting that we use
a well-known cure and allow the patient to recover.

Fine! But a full recovery still involves getting the patient off that
life-support system, doesn't it.

73 DE John, KC2HMZ
Tonawanda, New York


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