In article om, "Dee D.
Flint" writes:

"Alun" wrote in message
.. .
"Dee D. Flint" wrote in
gy.com:

And yet you say code is "necessary"? As an unqualified blanket
statement that is laughable.

Nope it is not laughable. There are many necessary things in life that
people do not do. They choose for reasons of their own to omit them.
Annual physicals are a "necessary" item for people of middle age and
older but I know quite a few people who do not get them. Keeping one's
weight under control is "necessary" but there's a lot of us carrying
more weight than we should.

Dee D. Flint, N8UZE

So, let me get this straight, you are saying it's necessary for me to use
CW, and comparing not doing it with failing to get a physical. I don't
think that argument will hold water. The consequences of not using CW are
what, exactly?

No I did not say it is necessary for you to use code only necessary for
people to learn it before deciding its usefulness for them. If one doesn't
know it, one can't make an enlightened decision. Thus it is a necessary
part of amateur radio whether or not it is used by any particular
individual.

Wow, a Morseodist Believer! Morse code is NECESSARY!!!!

Can anyone spell "Archaic Radiotelegraphy Society?" :-)

The consequences of not using code are simple and that is having to cease HF
communications earlier than those who do use code when propagation falls
off. Regardless of the relative magnitude of this consequence it is
nevertheless a consequence.

Really? You should have channeled the U.S. military and, in particular,
the Army Command and Administrative Network (ACAN) way back in
1943 or so when it was formed.

I had three years of direct experience on HF at ACAN's station ADA
back a half century ago. It did ALL its long-distance communications
(over 200 thousand messages a month) on HF, trans-Pacific. Only
ONE time (late 1955) was there ever a total radio blackout for three
hours...which disrupted everyone on HF radio in middle Pacific due to
a solar storm. Otherwise ADA was on-the-air 24 hours a day, 7 days
a week on HF. Not one circuit was "CW" or used morse code.

Maybe today's sunspots are ever so much "stronger" than they used to
was? :-)

There's lots of ham bands on HF, Dee. You and anyone else are all
free to use whatever band you want if your license privileges allow.
"QSY" is the trick...or are you rock-bound on only one band?

beep, beep

LHA