RadioBanter - View Single Post - Ham Radio In The Post-Code Testing Era

July 22nd 03, 04:48 AM

On 20 Jul 2003 02:35:45 GMT, ospam (Larry Roll K3LT)
wrote:

My statement about future hams having no experience with Morse/CW
is plain FACT, not opinion, Bill.

There seem to be quite a few hams now who have no experience with
Morse/CW. There are 257,319 Technicians in the ARS, according to the
most recently posted figures from N2EY, some of which are undoubtedly
former Tech-Plus licensees renewed as Technician, but most of whom are
undoubtedly of the no-code variety. Even if 20% are renewed Tech+ then
that's still over 200,000 hams with no Morse/CW experience. And that
is a lotta hams - two or three football stadiums full, in fact.

It is also a fact that because of their
lack of experience, they are self-disqualified from having an "opinion"
about the subject.

I disagree - it's not a fact, it's your opinion. I also happen to
disagree with that opinion.

Larry, no disrespect intended here, but what's your current opinion of
eating...oh...how about...elephant dung, for example?

Most of us would say that the idea sounds quite disgusting, no thanks,
I'll pass. Same goes for cat dung, rat dung, bat dung, or any other
kind of dung for that matter. I don't need to have tasted 'em all in
order to form that opinion. Similarly, one does not need to have
learned to send and receive CW at 50 WPM in order to decide that one
is not interested in that particular mode.

Note that it is not my intention to equate CW skills with animal dung,
the skill remains a useful one to have and I don't begrudge those who
enjoy CW their pleasure at using the mode - not for a single minute.
I'm merely pointing out that expertise at a particular activity is not
a prerequisite for deciding whether or not one wishes to pursue said
activity. Do I need to be able to deadlift 600 pounds in order to
decide I don't wish to be an olympic weightlifter? Nope. Can I
currently deadlift 600 pounds? Nope. Does that render my decision to
not try to deadlift 600 pounds invalid? Nope.

That's not the same thing, Carl. I was referring to their "opinions," or
subjective impressions, of the Morse code. The decision-making process
they apply to decide whether or not to attempt to learn it is a much more
objective process.

Assuming that you agreed with my opinion that eating animal dung is
not a very good idea - did you arrive at that conclusion through
subjective or objective reasoning?

So work te process, be a recruiter for morse.

As has always been the case, the ability of any advocate of Morse code
testing to "recruit" new hams to the mode is limited to relating their
own experience. The new hams will be receptive to his in varying degrees,

....which will undoubtedly be directly proportional to the number of
times that another ham patiently explains the relative merits of the
mode and encourages them to give it a try, and inversely proportional
to the number of times that another ham calls them lazy, good for
nothing, not "real" hams and similar rhetoric.

yet they will, in fact, not have the same incentive to actually give it a try
that existed under the previous licensing process.

Hmmm, let's see...

Incentive under the old (current) licensing process: Either submit to
being coerced into learning code at a rate of at least 5 WPM, or
remain on 6m and above where, except for a relatively small number of
weak-signal enthusiasts and on repeaters that use a Morse ID'er, the
use of CW is virtually nil anyway and so their lack of Morse
proficiency matters not.

Incentive under the future licensing process: Either voluntarily
develop CW skills, or be content to either remain on the crowded phone
bands or use one of the other digital modes where, except for the
Morse ID on a RTTY or other signal or on 10m repeaters, the use of CW
will be virtually nil anyway and so their lack of Morse proficiency
matters not until they want to work the CW ops for higher point totals
during contests or to put those elusive CW ops' calls in the log.

There's definitely a difference, but I don't think it's as big a
difference as a lot of people may think.

In the end, whether or
not they learn it is strictly up to them, as it has always been.

Agreed...

The problem

Ahem...the difference...

is, in the future, they will still

Ahem...they will finally...

have full HF privileges, so they no longer
have nothing to lose by simply forgoing the whole Morse/CW mode.

Larry, you're supposed to be trying to convince them to try CW,
remember? They *do* have something to lose by forgoing the mode. You
know it, and I know it too, even though I happen to have chosen (for
now at least) not to pursue the use of CW. I suspect you'll "convert"
more no-coders into CW enthusiasts by pointing out what they're
missing than you'll "convert" by ostracizing and villifying no-coders.

They will, however, most likely petition the ARRL and the FCC for more
HF phone allocations -- and where do you think they'll come from?

73 de Larry, K3LT

Ahhhhh! So this isn't about the merits of the mode after all, it's a
turf war! Why didn't you just say so in the first place?

I'm going to wet my pants laughing if it ends up being PSK31 or Hell
or SSTV ops rather than phone ops that end up populating those parts
of the bands.

73 DE John, KC2HMZ