"Bert Craig" wrote


I don't know what's so fascinating about it, Kim. It stands to reason that
to make an "educated" decision regarding anything, one should be...well,
somewhat educated on the subject.

Sounds reasonable to me.

That includes some practical experience.

Not necessarily. I've made decisions to do (or not to do) many, many things
without a lick of practical experience. I have decided not to be a surfer,
I've decided not to eat chocolate covered insects, I've decided not to
engage in same-gender sex, I've decided not to be a vegetarian, I've decided
not to be a Hindu, all with some 'education' on the subject but without a
bit of practical experience. I'm sure some folks make the same decision
about whether to learn Morse code.


However, many of these anti-code
folks are about to diminish the value (As a whole.) of a hobby I dearly
love...despite having a very generous chunk of no-code RF real estate.

Bert, with all due respect, how are they diminishing the value of Amateur
Radio? I truly enjoy Morse code, and use it frequently, but I'm not
persuaded that we need a Morse qualification test any longer. I'm a member
of FISTS and I'm a member of NCI. I see both organizations as having goals
which advance Amateur Radio for me. FISTS encourages people to use Morse
code, and NCI encourages regulatory agencies to modernize the qualification
process for new licensees.

If some new guy/gal gets on HF without knowing Morse code, the value of
Amateur Radio has not been diminished for me.

73, de Hans, K0HB