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![]() Perturbation /////////////////////////////////////////// The Unthinkable Posted: 07 Mar 2016 08:24 PM PST http://ke9v.net/2016/03/07/the-unthinkable/ In the aftermath of the rule change that removed Morse testing as a requirement for amateur radio licensing in the United States many years ago, hams went on a roller coaster ride of emotion. At first, we fretted and freaked out that the change signaled the beginning of the end for our favorite mode. But as time went on, the popularity of Morse seemed to grow. Or at least thats what we told ourselves and anyone who would listen. We looked for reasons to believe that version of reality and found clues in contest results that indicated CW was growing in popularity. Logs from Field Day operations confirmed that Morse was alive and well. That belief has become so pervasive that the popular meme among CW enthusiasts goes something like this with the testing requirement removed, more hams are taking an interest in CW because they dont have to. But for one scary moment, allow yourself to consider that radio contest enthusiasts are in it to win it and almost all contests, including Field Day, offer a healthy bonus for CW contacts. Remove the bonus, and you have to wonder if those contest scores would still reflect a healthy growth in the use of Morse? Maybe. Maybe not. But heres another data point to consider. According to the ARRL, 136,000 NPOTA contacts have been logged so far this year. Of those, 88.4% have been via voice while only 10% have been via CW. This seems significant. Its an operating event where phone and CW contacts are on an equal footing with the result that phone is preferred by almost 9 out of 10 operators. Despite the fact that most trail-friendly equipment is CW only. That seems odd considering our belief that CW is alive, well, and finding plenty of new adherents. Unless of course the meme is a shared delusion. On second thought, forget what Ive written here. Lets all take another blue pill and keep believing that all is well Im certain well all sleep better. |
#2
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On 3/8/2016 10:43 AM, KE9V wrote:
In the aftermath of the rule change that removed Morse testing as a requirement for amateur radio licensing in the United States many years ago, hams went on a roller coaster ride of emotion. At first, we fretted and freaked out that the change signaled the beginning of the end for our favorite mode. But as time went on, the popularity of Morse seemed to grow. Or at least that's what we told ourselves and anyone who would listen. ...But here's another data point to consider. According to the ARRL, 136,000 NPOTA contacts have been logged so far this year. Of those, 88.4% have been via voice while only 10% have been via CW. This seems significant. Its an operating event where phone and CW contacts are on an equal footing with the result that phone is preferred by almost 9 out of 10 operators. That seems odd considering our belief that CW is alive, well, and finding plenty of new adherents. Unless of course the meme is a shared delusion. First, I'll say that I'm an "Old Law" Extra, and since I passed the 20 wpm code test, I think I'm qualified to say if the view from the top of that mountain was worth the climb. From the start of radio until well into the 1960's, Morse Code was the preeminent military mode. IMNSHO, hams were required to be proficient in Morse Code because we were, in practical terms, a reserve corps of radio operators which could be pressed into service quickly in time of war. Time, of course, moved on - and as the Clarke Belt satellites and secure, encrypted voice communications replaced Morse and AM/SSB, the need for proficiency in Morse Code waned away. When the U.S. Coast Guard announced that it would no longer monitor 500 KHz for distress calls, the end of Morse was at hand. Many hams decried the end of the Morse era, sometimes because they felt that new recruits should crawl under the same barbed-wire that they had crawled under when they were Novices, and sometimes because they felt that Amateur Radio's reason for being was going away along with the keys. I am in the later camp, and it seems clear to me that our hobby is in need of a new purpose and a renewed focus on emergency preparedness and disaster-related communications. After all, without the Pentagon backing our interests at frequency allocation conferences, we wouldn't have enjoyed the privileges we did on HF, especially since shortwave broadcasting was, until relatively recently, the primary means for nations to distribute their political messages to the world. It seems fitting that the same satellites which made Morse Code unnecessary for military communications also relieved (at least for the moment) pressure on Ham allocations - but that's not going to last forever. The ease with which a major corporation was able to obtain 220-222 MHz for use by delivery truck drivers was a warning that we can't ignore, and the "Use it or lose it" mantra which many voiced while trying to preserve 220 is once again needed, but now on a much bigger scale. We must use, or lose, not just our existing frequency assignments, but more importantly, the capabilities we can offer to disaster preparedness planners, political leaders, and the public. Hams have barely escaped major assaults on HF bands by technologies such as data-over-power-lines, and also by fleets of invading "out band" users with ham rigs on their boats or in their cars. Most hams have heard fishermen using "our" bands for casual conversations about drift nets (which have their own locator beacons), fuel costs, and current prices - and "CB" users who have drifted (pun intended) up from 27 MHz all the way into 10 Meters, with the FCC doing little or nothing to stop any of it. VHF and UHF users have already seen the voracious appetites of cellular users causing commercial equipment manufacturers to look for more and more bandwidth - and even though the "refarming" of the old television channels has drawn demand away for the moment, that craving will never be satisfied so long as consumers are willing to purchase wireless devices. The sad, but pressing, fact is that although low power, short antennas, and household budgets mean that Morse is still a practical mode for hams, it's no longer the only hook we can hang our hat on when the next WARC occurs. There are hundreds of deep-pockets commercial firms planning future wireless devices for the "Internet of Things", and they can, and will exert pressure on the FCC when they notice how many bands hams have and how little we're using them. It's no longer enough to be proficient in Morse Code: we must become proficient in the hard, but necessary, work of making not just ourselves, but our hobby, useful to those who influence public policy. W4EWH -- Bill, W4EWH (Remove QRM from my email address to write to me directly) |
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