"Dee D. Flint" wrote in message igy.com...
"Carl R. Stevenson" wrote in message
...

"N2EY" wrote in message
om...
"Proficiency" starts at 10 wpm.

That's absurd ... proficiency is a relative term that must be quantified.
One can be proficient at a variety of levels in any activity requiring
some sort of acquired skill.


We might consider the arguments presented in the book "The Art and Skill of
Radiotelegraphy".

Why?

The author had done extensive study on Morse code
teaching methods, learning abilities, etc.

Cool. Who is the author, what is his callsign? And what is the
copyright date?

I'll bet he wrote it long after the code began to wane in any (every)
radio service.

His definition of proficiency is
along the lines of what level must a person obtain to prevent forgetting it.
Basically his research showed that those who achieved 13wpm did not forget
the code even if they did not use it. They would get "rusty" so to speak
and their speed would fall off if they did not use it but they would not
forget it. Once they resumed using it, their speed would fairly quickly
climb back to their previous level. That would seem like a reasonable
definition.

Dee D. Flint, N8UZE

Dee, you might want to suggest this as the definition of "Morse
Proficiency" to the FCC.

You might also want them to define Morse Code as it has some how
slipped out of Title 47. Hey, while they're at it, ask them to define
how to compute "Words per Minute," and Farnsworth.