Morse Code is in distress.
......
......
While the decision had been expected, some ham radio operators fear that
their

""""""exclusive club"""""

I think this is the key to Ms Kotts reaction.
New folks "the unwashed masses" are going to move into what she thinks of as
her exclusive neighborhood, and things will be different.
Change is upsetting, but change happens.
Deal with it.
Radio and Cw were "new fangled technology" in 1905, because she grew up with
this technology, She wants to stick to the 19th century technology she is
familiar with.
If the CDC did that, people would be dying like flies from what are NOW
preventable diseases like Measles, Cholera, typhoid , typhus, Yellow Fever,
etc.And surgery would be done without anaesthesia.


- and that the very survival of Morse Code is in question.
NO this is not true! Once knowledge is discovered it willl not DIE. Its
usage may decline as other technologies supplant it, BUT it will survive.

......
The demise of the Morse requirement, however, could be a boon for ham
radio itself. After the FCC decision, demand for information
about radio licenses surged from about 200 in a typical weekend to about
500, according to the American Radio Relay League, an
organization representing ham radio operators.

A surge in interest is a GOOD thing. Too many Old Farts like me (age 55),
and not enough youngsters coming in to the hobby.

......
"It's part of the dumbing down of America," said Nancy Kott, editor of
World Radio magazine and a field representative for the

Centers for Disease of Control and Prevention in Metamora, Michigan

IS this an Official policy if the CDC? Is she its authorized
spokesperson????
..
Last time I was there, the CDC headquarters were outside Atlanta, Georgia.

"We live in a society today that wants something for nothing."

A female in a mostly male radio world, Kott is one of about 660,000
licensed ham operators in the United States and is the U.S.
leader of Fists CW Club, an organization that calls itself the
International Morse Preservation Society.

Again this sounds to me like an old timers' temper tantrum against change.

Dan AI8O

Dan wrote:
...
If the CDC did that, people would be dying like flies from what are NOW
preventable diseases like Measles, Cholera, typhoid , typhus, Yellow Fever,
etc.And surgery would be done without anaesthesia.
...
Dan AI8O



Dan:

All your points are interesting. Aids is a preventable disease, I
wonder if someone has inform Ms. Kott?

Regards,
JS

All this stuff about dumbing down America is garbage. This lady works
for the CDC and has this kind of attitude? Thats scary. By the same
token, I guess a physician is less of a doctor, is 'dumb' because he
uses an MRI to make a diagnosis rather than cutting someone open for
exploratory surgery.
Telegraphy (in its simplest form, smoke signals) has been around
for thousands of years, keys for a bit over 200. Its time to move on
people.
CW is a nice skill to have, as are woodworking, horseback riding
and knitting. But not one of them is relevant to life in the 21st
century. not even a little bit. If everyone with those abilities fell
off the planet right now, the world would hardly notice the loss. Thats
just the way it is. Amatuer Radio operators can be innovators that
move along with the times and embrace new opportunities (as we have
done for the most part) or we can keep crying about how things were in
the good old days and become (extinct) dinosaurs.
Now if you will excuse me I need to start studying for my General.


Stefan Wolfe wrote:
SAN FRANCISCO: It may be the ultimate SOS.

Morse Code is in distress.
......
......
While the decision had been expected, some ham radio operators fear that
their exclusive club has been opened to the unwashed masses
- and that the very survival of Morse Code is in question.
......
The demise of the Morse requirement, however, could be a boon for ham radio
itself. After the FCC decision, demand for information
about radio licenses surged from about 200 in a typical weekend to about
500, according to the American Radio Relay League, an
organization representing ham radio operators.
......
"It's part of the dumbing down of America," said Nancy Kott, editor of World
Radio magazine and a field representative for the
Centers for Disease of Control and Prevention in Metamora, Michigan. "We
live in a society today that wants something for nothing."

A female in a mostly male radio world, Kott is one of about 660,000 licensed
ham operators in the United States and is the U.S.
leader of Fists CW Club, an organization that calls itself the International
Morse Preservation Society.

... So true, Ms. Kott...

"DaveC" wrote in message Now if you will excuse me I
need to start studying for my General.

Good one Dave. When you start "studying" for your general you will see how
dumbed down and simple it is and you might marvel at why the QPC would have
ever even bothered to commit such a "test" to publication. It may also occur
to you that, as the the Geico commercial says, it is so easy a caveman could
do it. Actually I would move back perhaps 25 millions earlier in the
evolutionary cycle and say it is so easy, even a monkey could do it.

And monkeys it will be.

The new Monkey General class :-)