Mike Coslo writes:

If they are interested in the ARS, but do not learn Morse because
they don't like it, they are not as interested as someone who does
make the effort.

You're really describing the "hazing effect", AFAICS. I approve of CW
testing precisely because of this effect; after being forced to run
the gauntlet of CW practice and testing, many will decide they love
CW--but more importantly, their attitude to the ARS in general will be
affected by the fact of having spent effort (however minor) and jumped
through hoops (however simple) to get into it.

(For that purpose, almost any hoop will do, of course. The chief
advantage of CW over the theory test is that it's much harder to
"cram". I'd have been an extra 20 years ago without that one extra
"hump", as would several people I know. And yes, the fact that we
didn't, does indeed prove that we "didn't want to badly enough".)

There's a chicken-and-egg question, of course. How many people got
their license before the no-code tech, but weren't interested in CW at
all? How many became interested in CW after the fact as a result of
the "hazing effect"? How many support CW now because they feel the
need to haze the newbies as they were hazed, even though they don't
use the mode themselves? And if so, what's so terrible about that?

Regards,
Len.


Disclaimer: I'm interested in CW for its own sake. Or is it because
I'll fight the man that calls me a "nickel extra", let alone a
"no-code extra"? Now I'm motivated to get my ticket before they
eliminate CW entirely, which seems likely.