.... the amateur tests are a trivial problem to men with real
educations...

.... the cw part makes as much sense as learning to play a "jew's
harp"--a lot of sense if you wish to, none if you don't...

Warmest regards,
John

wrote in message
oups.com...
John Smith wrote:
It was never about anyone stopping you from sending cw was it...

A few anticode folks have stated they want Morse Code *use* by hams to
end, not just the test. They are a small minority, but they do exist.

It is about stopping you from forcing others to learn cw when they
would
never use it...

Who is "forced" to learn Morse Code?

It's a requirement if someone wants an FCC-issued amateur license with
HF privileges, that's all.

Always when one is being forced to do something they do not wish to,
they should question everything in sight... just as you began when
you
thought someone was going to force you to quit...

The argument you present boils down to this: If someone doesn't want
to
use Morse Code in ham radio, they shouldn't be required to learn it
just
to pass a test (even a simple, basic test) to get a ham radio license.
Those who choose to use it can learn it on their own.

Is that about right?

The problem is that the same argument can be made against almost
everything
in the written tests. For example, if someone doesn't intend to use
certain
bands, why are they forced to learn the band edges of every band their
license allows? If someone doesn't intend to use more than a few watts
of
transmitted power, why must they learn all that RF exposure stuff?
Indeed,
if someone doesn't intend to homebrew, why are they *forced* to learn
all
that theory stuff?

Sure, the written tests look easy to someone with a background in
radio,
electronics, computers or other related fields. But to someone from an
unrelated field, they're not easy.

Suppose you met a retired gentleman who had been a radioman in the
military 50+ years ago. He'd always wanted to be a ham but never had
the time or resources. Now he finds that ham radio still exists, and
he wants in.

The gent can still do code well, and remembers the basics of theory
as it was 50+ years ago. He gets an HF receiver and listens to the
lovely Morse Code signals on the low ends of the HF bands.

But in order to join the folks on 7010 or 3520, he needs an Extra.
And the written test is full of stuff he's never seen before, and
that he will never use.

Why must he learn all that stuff he will never use just to pass the
tests?

Sure, the stuff is easy for *you*, but not for *him*.

... let's at least keep my comment about the drums straight...

Let's see...

Warmest regards,
John

"Jim Hampton" wrote in message
...

"John Smith" wrote in message
...
... that almost makes me miss the ancient drums my
great-great-great-great-great-great-great-great-etc. ancestors
used
to
use to communicate with in the primordial jungles... I wonder if
we
could bring those back to?

Invalid analogy.

Drums for communication aren't in wide use.

Morse Code for communication is in wide use in ham radio. Doesn't
need to be brought back because it's right here.

... perhaps require the new licensees to beat out a fancy tempo
on
one
of those turkeys before we gave 'em a license!
evil-grin

Warmest regards,
John


Perhaps, John


But consider that some of us can send and receive cw faster than
most
folks can type.

Yup.

I know you may be good at "cut and paste", but that doesn't
necessarily cut
it LOL.

Sure, voice appears faster, but when you get names and addresses
that
are
hard to pronounce ....

Bingo.

For any message that needs to be written down, the speed limitation is
usually the writing speed of the receiving op. The fact that someone
can theoretically talks 150 wpm doesn't mean anything if the person
on the receiving end can only write legibly at 15 wpm.

Text modes are great if you have the hardware for them and if you
are in a situation where you can look at a screen to read them.

Not saying that CW is the best, but some folks better come up with
something
superior to AM and FM. There are a number of modes, but most folks
want to
"talk". That won't cut it for 85 watt moonbounce on 24 GHz.




73 from Rochester, NY
Jim AA2QA
ps - when I talk send and receive cw faster than some folks type,
I'm
not
talking a nice, leisurely chat at 30 or 35 words per minute ...

Yup.

Good Morse ops can chat at speeds approaching those of voice ops
because
they use abbreviations and eliminate redundancies.

73 de Jim, N2EY