.... trust me, those cw'ers are going to grow very lonely--these new guys
have no use for code... they can scream and rant and rave and argue a
ridiculous point--just tune up grab your key and start finding out how
many out there are under 50... it ain't many!

John

wrote in message
oups.com...
From: on Tues 14 Jun 2005 09:32

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


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

Oh, my, THAT old brag.

Tsk, tsk, , listen in on any large FAA-tower airport
and, especially, the voice communications out of an FAA Center.

No morse used there, but plenty of abbreviations with elimination
of redundancies. Word rates are above 150 WPM equivalent and
often approach 250 WPM equivalent. No "test" required to learn
the abbreviations in TRACON talk.

Tsk, if morse code was so "efficient" and "speedy," it would have
been prime use in the REST OF THE RADIO WORLD. It isn't. Other
than the ham hobbyists ("on the lower ends of the 'bands' HF")
and some long-established automatic ID keyers, the REST OF THE
RADIO WORLD has given up on morse code.

To attempt countering the above, you MUST trot out the hoary old
maxim that "this is amateur radio!" as if the hobby is somehow
exulted and revered BECAUSE of morse code testing...and you will
state that "because there are still morse users in amateur radio,"
"newcomers 'must' learn/test for that skill to talk to them." :-)

[such always seems to happen as a "reason" for being...:-) ]

That "reply" (yet to come but as certain as there is a tomorrow)
might be augmented by some kind of "need" to "be able to talk to
those in foreign lands who do not speak English." One of the
truly specious and bereft of logic statements ever made in here!

Go ahead and "chat" on anything via morse code...use its unique
ability to express subtleties of opinion, the timbre and tone of
the sound, and all the other body language clues available
through morse. :-) Other than IDs, location, "the rig here is"
and WX, there isn't much more to the "chat," is there?

Please continue to praise the military morse ops, ,
especially those of the USN. The USN is NOT a branch of the
military you were in. Indeed, you weren't in ANY branch of the
military. You "served in other ways."