SAN FRANCISCO: It may be the ultimate SOS.

Morse Code is in distress.
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While the decision had been expected, some ham radio operators fear that
their exclusive club has been opened to the unwashed masses
- and that the very survival of Morse Code is in question.
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The demise of the Morse requirement, however, could be a boon for ham radio
itself. After the FCC decision, demand for information
about radio licenses surged from about 200 in a typical weekend to about
500, according to the American Radio Relay League, an
organization representing ham radio operators.
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"It's part of the dumbing down of America," said Nancy Kott, editor of World
Radio magazine and a field representative for the
Centers for Disease of Control and Prevention in Metamora, Michigan. "We
live in a society today that wants something for nothing."

A female in a mostly male radio world, Kott is one of about 660,000 licensed
ham operators in the United States and is the U.S.
leader of Fists CW Club, an organization that calls itself the International
Morse Preservation Society.

... So true, Ms. Kott...