Well... no, I got the point just fine. I can't imagine being surrounded by
Spanish-speaking people needing a code interp, or being on a CW freq anyway,
while some emergency happens to be taking place. And yeah, I'm elite like
that... I have a gift for gab... just like a monkey can be trained to tap
out a code of communication, I can parrot what I hear. It [or 50wpm CW]
isn't intelligence in any way, it's just a stupid circus trick. Once
again..... this wasn't or isn't the issue anyway... No one said there were
no pros to the mode, just that the whole "save a life" thing is laughable.
This argument jumps from an issue of speed, then to the generation gap, then
to simple name-calling banter. It's quite humorous and totally stupid. Kudos
to the OP troll! LOL
rb



"Al Klein" wrote in message
...
On Wed, 23 Aug 2006 19:54:37 GMT, "Woody" wrote:

"Dave Oldridge" wrote in message
. 159...
For CW to be effective, both operators
must be competent. IF they are, they can often transcend barriers of
language that only digital modes can get over. In my own case, the fact
that I could read CW and read written Spanish a bit once enabled me to
render aid to a burning fishing boat. (There were other more routine
examples of where the language barrier was crossed by CW--many messages
I
copied were not in English at all, but were readable by their end
recipients).

OK.... so by your own words, CW still didn't save a life... CW mixed with
bad Spanish passed a message. So now we'll have to add a Spanish test.
Thanks a lot.

I think you missed the point. Even if you didn't know "ola" from
"adios", you can copy Spanish in CW and hand it to the recipient, who
can read it. Try that with a mic.

As for the language thing.... I can copy voice language and hand it off to
another native just as easy and they'll figure it out too.
No CW necessary.

Really? You can write a spoken language you don't understand well
enough to be read by someone who understands it? Maybe. Maybe not.
In CW, you can.