A new club has been formed among Amateur Radio operators who are Morse Code
(CW) enthusiasts. It is called The CW Operators' Club (CWops). CWops
encourages the use of CW in Amateur communications, and it promotes goodwill
among Amateurs around the world by planned CW activities.

CWops is international in scope, membership and management. Its focus is
the use of CW, whether for contesting, DXing or ragchewing. Moreover, it
promotes every form of sending -- if it's CW, CWops supports it!

For further information, go to www.cwops.org. There you will find
everything that you might want to know about CWops, including our bylaws and
articles of incorporation, our planned activities, an explanation of how to
become a member, and a list of current members.

Jim Talens, N3JT
Secretary, CWops




--- news://freenews.netfront.net/ - complaints: ---

On Jan 2, 8:33�pm, K�HB wrote:
A new club has been formed among Amateur Radio operators who are Morse Co
de
(CW) enthusiasts. �It is called The CW Operators' Club (CWops).
�CWops
encourages the use of CW in Amateur communications, and it promotes goodw
ill
among Amateurs around the world by planned CW activities.

CWops is international in scope, membership and management. �Its
focus is
the use of CW, whether for contesting, DXing or ragchewing. �More
over, it
promotes every form of sending -- if it's CW, CWops supports it!

For further information, go towww.cwops.org. �There you will find
everything that you might want to know about CWops, including our bylaws
and
articles of incorporation, our planned activities, an explanation of how
to
become a member, and a list of current members.

Jim Talens, N3JT
Secretary, CWops

--- news://freenews.netfront.net/ - complaints: ---

www.cwops.org page comes back as non-existant. ??

AF6AY

Full link for the CW Operators Club:

http://www.cwops.org/

--

Some other Morse Code online resources:

International Morse Preservation Society, aka FISTS:

http://www.fists.org/

--

Straight Key Century Club, aka SKCC:

http://www.skccgroup.com/

--

G4FON site:

http://www.g4fon.net/

--

Art and Skill of Radiotelegraphy (electronic book, free for the
download):

http://www.qsl.net/n9bor/n0hff.htm

(there are several other download sites)

--

Vibroplex:

http://www.vibroplex.com/

--

Morse Express:

http://www.mtechnologies.com/

--

73 es HNY de Jim, N2EY

wrote in message
...


Some other Morse Code online resources:


The ultimate Morse web resource --- http://www.morsecode.nl/index2.html




--- news://freenews.netfront.net/ - complaints: ---

On Jan 3, 1:06�pm, Ivor Jones wrote:
On 03/01/10 20:05, AF6AY wrote:

On Jan 2, 8:33 pm, K �wrote:

[snip]

For further information, go towww.cwops.org. There you will find
everything that you might want to know about CWops, including our byla
ws
and articles of incorporation, our planned activities, an explanation o
f how
to become a member, and a list of current members.

Jim Talens, N3JT
Secretary, CWops

www.cwops.orgpage comes back as non-existant. �??

AF6AY

Ok here at the moment, maybe a temporary server problem..?

73 Ivor G6URP

Good thought, Ivor, but it is probably due to lack of space between
"to" and the link address. I tried it again on Sunday night and it had
the same problem using the link from the message text. Used separately
from the browser, it will go to the proper address.

73, Len AF6AY

What's next? Secret handshakes and weird rituals?

"As described in detail in the Bylaws, to become a CWops member you must

be nominated by a current member and sponsored by three other members
who have worked you twice within the previous 12 months. The nomination

process must be completed within a period of five months.

Once you have your sponsors, there is a 30-day waiting period. Absent
an objection, you will then receive a formal invitation to join, and
after registering and paying the annual dues of $12 U.S., you will
become a CWops member and receive your membership number. All of these
steps are explained in the Bylaws. "

Jeff-1.0
wa6fwi

--
“Egotism is the anesthetic that dulls the pain of stupidity.â€
�
Frank Leahy, Head coach, Notre Dame 1941-1954

http://www.stay-connect.com

On Jan 4, 7:15 pm, Jeffrey D Angus wrote:

What's next? Secret handshakes and weird rituals?

I read the bylaws and they do seem to be a pretty exclusive group.

What I see as the flaw in their system is that they state that they
want to create a renaissance in CW. Okay, that's a worthy goal. I do
question how they are going about it.

But setting the bar at 25 wpm is not going to produce that goal. And
reading through their web pages, it is not difficult to derive a
conclusion that they are working at a atmosphere of exclusivity.
Exclusivity and renaissance are pretty much at odds. Plus there is the
strange part in the FAQ about one's sponsors possibly making a
applicant take a test. That's just inconsistent and odd, and smacks of
sub-groups, and people who are more equal than others.

That being said, if a person likes that sort of thing, that's just
fine by me.

But for myself, I'm happy to be member number 891 in the Second Class
Operator's Club.

- 73 de Mike N3LI -

On Jan 5, 10:27 am, "Michael J. Coslo" wrote:
On Jan 4, 7:15 pm, Jeffrey D Angus wrote:

What's next? Secret handshakes and weird rituals?

I read the bylaws and they do seem to be a pretty exclusive group.

I'm not a member, but I don't see any secret handshakes or weird
rituals.

What I do see are requirements that prospective members prove
themselves by actually getting on the air and working existing members,
using CW, at a given speed or better.

What I see as the flaw in their system is that they state that they
want to create a renaissance in CW. Okay, that's a worthy goal. I do
question how they are going about it.

But setting the bar at 25 wpm is not going to produce that goal.

Why not?

And
reading through their web pages, it is not difficult to derive a
conclusion that they are working at a atmosphere of exclusivity.
Exclusivity and renaissance are pretty much at odds. Plus there is the
strange part in the FAQ about one's sponsors possibly making a
applicant take a test. That's just inconsistent and odd, and smacks of
sub-groups, and people who are more equal than others.

I see it very differently.

CWOps isn't the only game in town. FISTS has been around a long time,
for example. SKCC has attracted thousands of members in just a few
years. Second Class Operator's club is another example. All have pretty
minimal entry requirements. That's not a bad thing.

ISTM that the idea for CWOps is to have a club focused on those with a
somewhat-higher level of skill in Morse Code, who actually use the mode
on the air regularly. The requirement for QSOs with members looks to me
as a way of insuring a personal connection between members.

So I think there's room for a club like CWOps, too. It will be
interesting to see how membership grows.

I'm happy to be member number 891 in the Second Class
Operator's Club.

Which reminds me - I gotta sign up for that one.

---

One thing I remember clearly from my early days in amateur radio is
actually seeing and hearing real live Radio Amateurs using Morse Code
at a high level of skill.

I think it was Field Day 1969 when I encountered a grizzled OT working
CW on the low end of 40, working them faster than I could keep track of
through the fierce QRM of the crowded band. Even though FD had only
been going for a couple of hours he'd made more QSOs than many
stations would make all FD.

"Which one are you copying?" I asked

"All three" said the OT, logging another one. "Now get me another
beer"

I went to get it, and decided right then that someday I'd have that
level of skills.

73 de Jim, N2EY

wrote:

ISTM that the idea for CWOps is to have a club focused on those with a
somewhat-higher level of skill in Morse Code, who actually use the mode
on the air regularly. The requirement for QSOs with members looks to me
as a way of insuring a personal connection between members.

So I think there's room for a club like CWOps, too. It will be
interesting to see how membership grows.

I gave up long ago trying to predict what motivates ham radio operators.
Personally, this whole idea of having to be nominated by current
members turns me off, but I know that I am far from typical in that
regard. If the process of obtaining membership in this club actually
results in increased cw activity, more power to them. If it ends up
being a method for people to pat each other on the back without ever
keying a transmitter, then it's completely worthless.

Personally, I wish that they had instituted a tiered membership for
people who are learning cw. One way to increase cw activity is to
motivate trained operators to get on the air, but another way is to
motivate new hams to learn and use cw. If being a member of an
exclusive club is a strong motivator for hams, then recognize the
newcomers and reward them for increasing their proficiency.

73, Steve KB9X

On 2010-01-06, Steve Bonine wrote:

I gave up long ago trying to predict what motivates ham radio operators.
Personally, this whole idea of having to be nominated by current
members turns me off, but I know that I am far from typical in that
regard. If the process of obtaining membership in this club actually

Morse has transitioned from being the lingua franca of amateur radio to an
exclusive club.

And folks marvel at its decline...

--
Jeff, KE9V