"Dan/W4NTI" wrote


Our club group built a 3 element 160 meter yagi out of steel beer cans for a
Field Day one year.


Hey Dan,

Do you know how to tell the difference between a fairy-tale and a sea-story?

Scroll down
































A fairy-tale starts out --- "Once upon a time....."

A sea-story starts out --- "Now this is no ****....."


dit dit

73, de Hans, K0HB

Naaa, it is true--I was the one who drank all the beer so they'd have those
cans to use... grin

Warmest regards,
John

"KØHB" wrote in message
ink.net...

"Dan/W4NTI" wrote


Our club group built a 3 element 160 meter yagi out of steel beer cans
for a Field Day one year.


Hey Dan,

Do you know how to tell the difference between a fairy-tale and a
sea-story?

Scroll down
































A fairy-tale starts out --- "Once upon a time....."

A sea-story starts out --- "Now this is no ****....."


dit dit

73, de Hans, K0HB

"John Smith" wrote in message
...
You ask me "what is wrong with cw?" I ask you, "Why is amateur radio
dying?"--I think the answer to both is a single one--there was a time when
dropping code would have saved ham radio--I fear that time has come and
gone... cw has no real use to anyone, anymore... it is like having to
learn to type to use the internet... no such requirement... however,
because typing DOES have a use--you will find many learning to type after
they realize the need...

... the "anateur exams" are certainly no hinderence, they always have been
as simple as pie--a college grad trained in the art of "test taking" could
study for a day and pass the most challenging... they have been made even
simplier still... yet amateur radio declined and continues to do so--

... now "critical mass" has been reached, so many other forms of
communication exist that amateur radio is on its' death march... radios
are
so far and few between... and so little demand... they are too expensive
with most to bother with... you could give ham licences away in the
streets
and not improve that...

... no, the OMs' alzheimers and lack of ability to see the future has
killed
ham radio--you'd think the old guys must have hated it--to have stood by
and
watched it die--if what you say is correct--and they DID have all their
mental facilities about them and still allowed it...

Warmest regards,
John


Hello, John

I suspect that Morse testing will be dropped. When, I'm not sure, but some
countries have done so already. I honestly believe (but could be wrong)
that most of the older amateurs (say the 20 wpm extra gang of which I am
one) do not believe that Morse should be required.

Hopefully, that will end some of the contention amongst some of us. The
reality is that amateur radio does need some infusion of young blood.
Having just celebrated my 58th birthday, I can appreciate that LOL.

There are a lot of different forms of communication. I suspect that some
people will be attracted to amateur radio simply because of the vast amount
of experimentation that can be done at reasonable powers (you don't need
kilowatts, but a few milliwatts may not suffice).

I've been moderating one Yahoo group (and now co-own it) which is devoted to
helping folks get their tickets. The biggest thing is not to have the hams
flame the cbers or scanner enthusiasts. We are all interested in radio (or
television - or other modes, for that matter) and the flame wars are the
biggest deterrent (not Morse code), at least in my mind. Flame wars do
*not* happen. Moderation until folks calm down and removal or even banning
if they continue. There are too many good folks in cb and amateur radio
(not to mention scanner and sw folks) to let the flamers wreck everything.

As far as mental ability, I tried like heck to kill mine when I celebrated
my birthday. The only result was a big headache LOL.

You and I might have a minor disagreement, but it appears you are willing to
discuss it. So am I. As to typing, I had an interview some number of years
ago and when it was mentioned that the individual that was to be replaced
was producing their newsletter, I mentioned that I could type over 65 words
per minute on a bad day into a headwind. When they said "we don't type
anymore, we use computers", I stated that I believed it was time to call a
halt to the interview. Certainly keyboards have changed a bit (I remember
close to 50 years ago, my father had an old typewriter with a "cents" figure
on it), but the keys (alpha and numerics) are laid out the same. Yes, the
computer keyboard has an extra set of keys with numbers (use the numbers
lock) on it. Still, I have no problem with 65 words per minute. I admit
I'm down a bit from the time I had to fight a 100 word per minute teletype
to get burst of 92 words per minute out, but I still have no real problem
either typing or programming.

Some of us are trying to pass the torch to younger folks. The plain fact is
that amateur radio need younger folks (not to mention more women).

If you might be interested in joining, please e-mail me off group. The
address is


73 from Rochester, NY
Jim AA2QA

wrote in message
ups.com...
Jim Hampton wrote:
"KØHB" wrote in message
nk.net...
One interesting thing of note - text messaging I'd consider
similar to cw in one thing - it may be fun, but not highly
useful.

I disagree!

They're both highly useful. Just in different ways.

If one
needs to send a lot of text, a computer and the Internet just
might be
considerably faster (assuming one can touch type at a
reasonable rate).

Of course! But then you need a readout device.

Usefulness depends on the application.

Via
radio, there are digital modes, of course, and text can be
reliably sent
much faster with many of the digital modes (even the very dated
RTTY).

Sure - if someone has the equipment handy.

But the whole digital-mode-faster thing is kind of bogus in my view.
It's like saying that since we have cars, there's no reason to have
competitions where people run anymore. Heck, why doesn't everyone in
the Olympic marathon use rollerblades? The times would drop
dramatically.


I have to chuckle at the length of this thread; I thought it
an interesting
link and figured there would be a couple of cw detractors that
would answer,
but the thread turned out a bit longer than I figured. I keep
forgetting
how heated the cw vs no cw arguement can get.

The telling part is that the anticode folks call the test "rigged"
and other nonsense in an attempt to discredit what happened. But
the plain simple fact is that a couple of good Morse Code
operators, going about 1/3 the world-record speed, were faster
than the *world record holders* in text messaging.

What they missed is that the whole point of the segment was to
show that "newer" isn't always "faster/better/easier" and that
"older" doesn't equal "useless". The outfits on the two teams
were a visual way of adding to that.

One member of the Morse Code team was reportedly at Dayton
in his telegrapher outfit.
=================================================

Yup. I saw him walking around the show.

Dee D. Flint, N8UZE

"Landshark" wrote in message
.. .

----- Original Message -----
From: "Jim Hampton"
Newsgroups: rec.radio.amateur.policy,rec.radio.cb
Sent: Sunday, May 22, 2005 4:30 PM
Subject: Just for grins - CW


Nice try, John

In the original post I stated "just for grins".

As far as Alzheimer's disease, I know the change I am due before the kid
punches the cash tendered into the register. I had to chuckle one day
when
the gal punched in as though I had made exact change and had to figure
out
what my change was. She had to call a manager!

OMG, she couldn't count backwards? This is what the
future has to look forward too.


I am familiar with how great the Internet is and surf a bit plus am
active
in several Yahoo groups. Do you remember 911? I lost my AT&T service
for
a
week as they had some central switching station in there. I had to use
my
Juno account as a backup. The radios, however, work - even without
mains.
Come to think of it, some of the repeaters work without mains. There
are
two of them around here that aren't even connected to the mains!

I have no axe to grind. Oh, it bothers me when a couple of high power
stations are talking across town on 20 meters, however there is no
sanity
test for an amateur license. Come to think of it, the same applies to
high
power CBs. It causes interference thousands of miles away.

No test for people in life, you & I both know that


What I cannot understand is why so many folks get their panties in a
knot
over CW. If you enjoy it, use it; if not, don't. No big deal there.

As far as the folks who love to condemn those who enjoy Morse, I suspect
that many of them are also lacking in theory and really want a no test
ticket. Perhaps we could also do away with a test for a driver's
license
as
well ....

Granted, folks will point out there is a big difference. There is, but
the
underlying problem is trying to make the airwaves available for
*everyone*.
This includes cell-phones (think duplex walk-talkie connected to a
repeater
which is connected to the telephone company), radio, television,
aircraft
guidance systems, satellite tv, satellite radio, gps, and so much more.
Originally, there were no driver's licenses, but as more automobiles
came
about, there was a need for regulation. Should we get rid of traffic
lights? How about the flashing red lights on school busses? Think
there
might be a need for regulation? The same applies to radio. Originally,
there were no regulations for radio. If you have 100 stations in the
world,
total, there is really no need for regulation. As technology
progressed,
there were more demands made for radio spectrum (I say radio, but mean
everything using the electro-magnetic spectrum from perhaps 3 kHz to 300
gHz). Regulations came into being and have been revisited and changed
many
times since.

At least we can discuss this problem with regulating the airwaves; I
have
another problem that I am going to have to "discuss" a different way.

Our new chief of police is claiming he is going to start cracking down
on
the loud stereos. One guy wrote an editorial stating "you just don't
like
my music". Well, I finally got one guy fined and he is staying quiet.
It
is disconcerting, to say the least, when someone has their boom box
turned
up 10 dB above distort at midnight and I have to get up in the morning.
Some of us actually have jobs. I have some "tunes" that I will share
should
this start again. I'm not going to bother burning a cd as I've got the
mp3
cuts on the computer. Just plug an audio line from the headphone jack
on
the computer speakers to the 700 stereo system I have for satellite tv.
I
hope they enjoy my tunes:

LOL!!!, the 60's 70 are over big guy


1) Washington Post March
2) Anchors aweigh
3) The Thunderer
4) The Stars and Stripes Forever (my favorite)

I've got others on CDs. From all of the services. Funny, but I have a
feeling that they will be clamoring for "regulation" all of a sudden )


With all due regards from Rochester, NY
Jim AA2QA

Oh Yeah................ Go to hear from You Jim.

Landshark


Hello, Sharkie

My bad. I meant 700 watt system - not something from the 70s LOL. All Bose
speakers. A couple hundred watts on the bass alone (and it does shake,
although I keep the volume down).

Good to hear from you too. I'm not really mad, just disappointed that folks
don't understand the need for regulation. I have a dog and she stays in the
house for the most part. When I have her out, if she barks more than a few
times, I bring her in. The neighbors don't need to hear a dog barking for
20 minutes or more. Same thing with the stereo system.

Heck, I've made a mistake in the past. Had a party with the Hammond turned
up pretty well (as well as the Leslies) and the cops showed up. I
apologized and shut it off. Never done that since (and that was 25 years
ago). No biggie; anyone can make a mistake.


73 from Rochester, NY
Jim AA2QA

Michael Coslo wrote:


Cmd Buzz Corey wrote:

John Smith wrote:

... the "anateur exams" are certainly no hinderence, they always have
been as simple as pie--a college grad trained in the art of "test
taking" could study for a day and pass the most challenging



I think you need to go back and look at the early exams. There was a
time when an applicant was required to actually draw a schematic of
various circuits and explaine how they worked.


Is that supposed to be hard?

Can you draw the schematic for a push-pull RF amplifier using link
coupling and explain how it works? Can you draw an AM transmitter using
Heising modulation and explain how it works?

Dan/W4NTI wrote:

I believe what the gentleman was trying to convey is that the present day
tests are a total farce. The answer is readly available and it is just a
"formality" to even pass it.

Absolutely, otherwise there are a lot of hams that wouldn't be hams.
People like toddieboy, wogie and lot of others who would not be hams if
they really had to have technical knowledge to pass a test instead of
just memorizing answers.

John Smith wrote:
Dan:

You will never find me using cw...

Well, you don't need it on CB.

Stagger Lee wrote:


To reiterate, those who run around claiming that "amateur radio is
dying" can't seem to either articulate what "dying" means or to prove
their case.

And as the old Shania Twain song says, "That don't impress me much."

Those who are too dumb or lazy to get a license like to parrot the old
standard, 'ham radio is dying". They can't make the grade so they like
to think ham radio will someday go away then they won't feel so inferior.

Michael Coslo wrote:
Cmd Buzz Corey wrote:

John Smith wrote:

... the "anateur exams" are certainly no hinderence, they always
have
been as simple as pie--a college grad trained in the art of "test
taking" could study for a day and pass the most challenging

I think you need to go back and look at the early exams. There was
a
time when an applicant was required to actually draw a schematic of

various circuits and explaine how they worked.

Is that supposed to be hard?

Depends on the person. For someone who knows a little radio theory and
the regulations of the amateur radio service, none of the tests were
very hard.

Heck, I passed the old General and Advanced class tests in 1968 - at
the age of 14. That was the summer between 8th and 9th grade for me. No
big deal, there were younger hams than me with Extras back then.

The difference between then and now is the test *method* more than the
content.

And even after the exams
became multiple choice type,

(about 1960 for the General)

one had to know the material to get the
correct answer as the answers to the acutal questions were not
available.

Yeah. You'll find that question pool bugaboo in a lot of fields
these
days, including fields where if a person makes a mistake because of
not
knowing the material, lives may be lost.

Good or bad, I don't think FCC will go back to the old way.

There were study guides with sample questions, but no
questions pools with the exact answer available for memorization.

Now if you want *really* hard, make it no study guide, no question
pool, and the applicant has to do all the learning research with NO
idea
of what is on the test! 8^)

The old study guides were essay-type Q&A that outlined the general area
of
knowledge. One question could cover a *lot* of ground. The old Extra
study
guide was as much as 279 questions at one point.

If you
did not know the theory, then you probably weren't going to pass.
Again john smith knows not of what he speaks.

I took the tests from the question pools. For me, they were all
pretty
easy. They were not easy because of the question pools. They were
easy
because they were fairly basic material.

But you had seen the exact Q&A before, right?

What I have seen of the earlier test is that they too were pretty
basic. Any difference is not so great that those who came before need

not feel any superiority.

Not a question of superiority, but of test validity.

The difference between then and now is the test *method* more than the
content.

I aced the Technician test with the only study being the safety
questions.

I did study a bit for the General.

For the Extra, I spent a week taking the on-line tests. Questions
that
I knew the answer to, I got right of course.

Those that I got wrong earned me a trip to the books or online to
find
out why I got it wrong. By the time I was finished, I aced the test
just
about every time on line, and then in the actual test.

And I knew the material.

Elapsed time, one week.

For you.

But I bet you had more than a little electrical/radio knowledge before
you ever looked at a ham radio study guide.

Now the Morse code was another thing entirely. That was hard.

But then I'm just a dum nickel extra! ;^)

I bet it says the same thing on your license as it does on mine. With
no mention of dumb or nickles, Mike.

Each of us met the requirements in force at the time of being licensed.
That the
requirements changed over time isn't usually due to the people taking
the new tests.

Looking down on somebody today because they didn't take the same tests
you took years ago is kind of like getting mad at someone who paid less
for a VCR last week than you paid 20 years ago....


73 de Jim, N2EY