Ham's care more about operating appliances than knowing how to save a lives.

:-(

Dirk wrote:

Ham's care more about operating appliances than knowing how to save a lives.

:-(


PLONK!

tom
K0TAR

(Dirk) wrote in :

Ham's care more about operating appliances than knowing how to save a
lives.

The person would not die on my watch, as long as I could get a signal out
and someone on the other end could copy it. I'd probably have to practice
a bit to get back up over 50wpm, but I can do 25 or 30 all day long.


--
Dave Oldridge+
ICQ 1800667

Well there ya have it folks.... 50wpm saves lives. So how does it work?
Turn up the speaker really loud and place it [face down] on the person's
chest, while
an op in South America tapped out universally accepted words that would
mimic an atrioventricular rhythm?

Wrong theatre? OK...

Maybe if a person is trapped on a sinking ship in the Indian Ocean you, in
Siberia, could tap out a message to someone in Madagascar [who happened to
be awake at an odd hour] and that person also owned a large SAR chopper,
they could jump in it, saving the time of relaying to anyone else, and go
pluck them from certain death?

OH, or better yet... if your neighbor is also a ham.... and your wife fell
over with an AMI, you could call your neighbor, give him a freq, then the
two of you
get set up and running, then you can send a 50wpm message asking your
neighbor to call an ambulance? BTW, if the phones are down, you ask him to
get in his
car and drive down to the local EMS agency, and bring them to you. Life
saved!
I'm impressed.
rb



"Dave Oldridge" wrote in message
9...
(Dirk) wrote in :

Ham's care more about operating appliances than knowing how to save a
lives.

The person would not die on my watch, as long as I could get a signal out
and someone on the other end could copy it. I'd probably have to practice
a bit to get back up over 50wpm, but I can do 25 or 30 all day long.


--
Dave Oldridge+
ICQ 1800667

"Woody" wrote in
news:%RJGg.27319$uV.13889@trnddc08:

Well there ya have it folks.... 50wpm saves lives. So how does it
work? Turn up the speaker really loud and place it [face down] on the
person's chest, while
an op in South America tapped out universally accepted words that
would mimic an atrioventricular rhythm?

Did someone drop you on your head at birth? The reason 50wpm can save
lives is probably a bit complex for you to get both your functioning
neurons around, but believe me, having done CW for a living for some
decades I do know that it can save lives. And if you're faster than the
average bear at it, you can tell someone on the scene things they need to
know all that much faster.

Wrong theatre? OK...

Maybe if a person is trapped on a sinking ship in the Indian Ocean
you, in Siberia, could tap out a message to someone in Madagascar [who
happened to be awake at an odd hour] and that person also owned a
large SAR chopper, they could jump in it, saving the time of relaying
to anyone else, and go pluck them from certain death?

OH, or better yet... if your neighbor is also a ham.... and your wife
fell over with an AMI, you could call your neighbor, give him a freq,
then the two of you
get set up and running, then you can send a 50wpm message asking your
neighbor to call an ambulance? BTW, if the phones are down, you ask
him to get in his
car and drive down to the local EMS agency, and bring them to you.
Life saved!
I'm impressed.
rb

So apparently YOUR answer to this question is that you couldn't send your
name if your own life depended on it.

Believe me, I get it. I don't think CW ought to be mandatory and it
isn't where I live. I do think people who intend to use it should learn
how to use it properly, though. For CW to be effective, both operators
must be competent. IF they are, they can often transcend barriers of
language that only digital modes can get over. In my own case, the fact
that I could read CW and read written Spanish a bit once enabled me to
render aid to a burning fishing boat. (There were other more routine
examples of where the language barrier was crossed by CW--many messages I
copied were not in English at all, but were readable by their end
recipients).


--
Dave Oldridge+
ICQ 1800667

"Dave Oldridge" wrote in message
9...
"Woody" wrote in
news:%RJGg.27319$uV.13889@trnddc08:

Did someone drop you on your head at birth? The reason 50wpm can save
lives is probably a bit complex for you to get both your functioning
neurons around, but believe me, having done CW for a living for some
decades I do know that it can save lives. And if you're faster than the
average bear at it, you can tell someone on the scene things they need to
know all that much faster.


Possibly, because try as I might, I can't really remember much about that
day.... I had pyloric stenosis, if that counts?

So apparently YOUR answer to this question is that you couldn't send your
name if your own life depended on it.

Now that's true... I'd require a CW setup of some kind in order to send my
name; or anything else for that matter.
Or as previously pointed out, hack up a headphone jack and tippy tap the
wires together. Either way, I don't see my life depending on it at any time,
so I'll just let my CW skills continue to rust.
However; your argument does make me wonder how non-hams even have a chance
at life in this world... ??


Believe me, I get it. I don't think CW ought to be mandatory and it
isn't where I live. I do think people who intend to use it should learn
how to use it properly, though. For CW to be effective, both operators
must be competent. IF they are, they can often transcend barriers of
language that only digital modes can get over. In my own case, the fact
that I could read CW and read written Spanish a bit once enabled me to
render aid to a burning fishing boat. (There were other more routine
examples of where the language barrier was crossed by CW--many messages I
copied were not in English at all, but were readable by their end
recipients).

OK.... so by your own words, CW still didn't save a life... CW mixed with
bad Spanish passed a message. So now we'll have to add a Spanish test.
Thanks a lot.

As for the language thing.... I can copy voice language and hand it off to
another native just as easy and they'll figure it out too.
No CW necessary.

BTW, I noticed you conveniently left out the specific year in which said
burning boat was offshore with an obsolete CW outfit, and how your CW
expertise put out a fire.... but I'm guessing we're talking many a year ago,
so again, a moot point.
Actually,
The boat thing in general is really killing me... If these numb-nuts are
offshore and not on the correct USCG freqs and/or unaware of how to properly
tune their radios in an emergency, then it isn't CW saving lives, it's the
grace of God that somebody happened to be on their freq at that time. But
again, what boats are out there with a CW rig???? That's crazy, bubba. :-)
rb

"Woody" wrote in news:1o2Hg.19713$Te.3938@trnddc07:


"Dave Oldridge" wrote in message
9...
"Woody" wrote in
news:%RJGg.27319$uV.13889@trnddc08:

Did someone drop you on your head at birth? The reason 50wpm can
save lives is probably a bit complex for you to get both your
functioning neurons around, but believe me, having done CW for a
living for some decades I do know that it can save lives. And if
you're faster than the average bear at it, you can tell someone on
the scene things they need to know all that much faster.


Possibly, because try as I might, I can't really remember much about
that day.... I had pyloric stenosis, if that counts?

So apparently YOUR answer to this question is that you couldn't send
your name if your own life depended on it.

Now that's true... I'd require a CW setup of some kind in order to
send my name; or anything else for that matter.
Or as previously pointed out, hack up a headphone jack and tippy tap
the wires together. Either way, I don't see my life depending on it at
any time, so I'll just let my CW skills continue to rust.
However; your argument does make me wonder how non-hams even have a
chance at life in this world... ??


Believe me, I get it. I don't think CW ought to be mandatory and it
isn't where I live. I do think people who intend to use it should
learn how to use it properly, though. For CW to be effective, both
operators must be competent. IF they are, they can often transcend
barriers of language that only digital modes can get over. In my own
case, the fact that I could read CW and read written Spanish a bit
once enabled me to render aid to a burning fishing boat. (There were
other more routine examples of where the language barrier was crossed
by CW--many messages I copied were not in English at all, but were
readable by their end recipients).

OK.... so by your own words, CW still didn't save a life... CW mixed
with bad Spanish passed a message. So now we'll have to add a Spanish
test. Thanks a lot.

My point is, my bad Spanish might not have recognized the word "fuego" if
it was spoken fast among a lot of other words. But on CW it came across
loud and clear.

As for the language thing.... I can copy voice language and hand it
off to another native just as easy and they'll figure it out too.
No CW necessary.

Except you'll be a lot slower because you'll need phonetic spellings for
everything. Believe me, I know. I've done this. For a living for many
years.

BTW, I noticed you conveniently left out the specific year in which
said burning boat was offshore with an obsolete CW outfit, and how
your CW expertise put out a fire.... but I'm guessing we're talking
many a year ago, so again, a moot point.

Not that long ago, really. Early 1990's if I remember.

Actually,
The boat thing in general is really killing me... If these numb-nuts
are offshore and not on the correct USCG freqs and/or unaware of how
to properly tune their radios in an emergency, then it isn't CW saving
lives, it's the grace of God that somebody happened to be on their
freq at that time. But again, what boats are out there with a CW
rig???? That's crazy, bubba. :-) rb

This was on 500khz (and 484). CW was the mode of operation on those
frequencies until well into the 90's. Cheap SSB radios were plentiful.
So were some SITOR lashups. But what finally killed it was INMARSAT.

So now, instead of getting nailed by solar flares on HF, you get nailed
by them on INMARSAT and have to wait 6 to 9 months for a new launch.
Meanwhile you're limping along on SSB using a phonetic alphabet to send
traffic at a SLOWER rate.

--
Dave Oldridge+
ICQ 1800667

On Wed, 23 Aug 2006 19:54:37 GMT, "Woody" wrote:

"Dave Oldridge" wrote in message
59...
For CW to be effective, both operators
must be competent. IF they are, they can often transcend barriers of
language that only digital modes can get over. In my own case, the fact
that I could read CW and read written Spanish a bit once enabled me to
render aid to a burning fishing boat. (There were other more routine
examples of where the language barrier was crossed by CW--many messages I
copied were not in English at all, but were readable by their end
recipients).

OK.... so by your own words, CW still didn't save a life... CW mixed with
bad Spanish passed a message. So now we'll have to add a Spanish test.
Thanks a lot.

I think you missed the point. Even if you didn't know "ola" from
"adios", you can copy Spanish in CW and hand it to the recipient, who
can read it. Try that with a mic.

As for the language thing.... I can copy voice language and hand it off to
another native just as easy and they'll figure it out too.
No CW necessary.

Really? You can write a spoken language you don't understand well
enough to be read by someone who understands it? Maybe. Maybe not.
In CW, you can.

wrote in
:

On Wed, 23 Aug 2006 01:10:08 GMT, Dave Oldridge
wrote:

"Woody" wrote in
news:%RJGg.27319$uV.13889@trnddc08:

Well there ya have it folks.... 50wpm saves lives. So how does it
work? Turn up the speaker really loud and place it [face down] on
the person's chest, while
an op in South America tapped out universally accepted words that
would mimic an atrioventricular rhythm?

Did someone drop you on your head at birth?
wy wouldyou ask that did someone drop you on yours?

No, but when I'm confronted with TOTAL stupidity, it's a possible
explanotion for it.

The reason 50wpm can save
lives is probably a bit complex for you to get both your functioning
neurons around, but believe me, having done CW for a living for some
decades I do know that it can save lives.
a date when was the last Ham Morse saved a life at any speed

car and drive down to the local EMS agency, and bring them to you.
Life saved!
I'm impressed.
rb

So apparently YOUR answer to this question is that you couldn't send
your name if your own life depended on it.

I can send anything I like the proof of that is before you I have a pc

Believe me, I get it. I don't think CW ought to be mandatory and it
isn't where I live.
good for you
I do think people who intend to use it should learn
how to use it properly, though. For CW to be effective, both
operators must be competent. IF they are, they can often transcend
barriers of language that only digital modes can get over. In my own
case, the fact that I could read CW and read written Spanish a bit
once enabled me to render aid to a burning fishing boat. (There were
other more routine examples of where the language barrier was crossed
by CW--many messages I copied were not in English at all, but were
readable by their end recipients).
ok you have a date for that I'll accept it as a life saved by CW if
you do
http://kb9rqz.blogspot.com/

Not an exact date, though it's probably in the archives of the Canadian
Coast Guard, my employer at the time. Hey, I worked at Halifax Coast
Guard radio from 1977 until 1995, 18 years at the one station. We
handled a number of SOS calls on CW and were able to save lives some of
the time (not always. alas). But with trained operators on both ends of
the signal path, CW was pretty much always an easier go than SSB. And
SITOR was pretty much a joke. Half the ships couldn't get it going.

INMARSAT is what put CW out of business in the marine industry. And a
nasty solar flare or two could put INMARSAT out of business. You pays
your money and you takes your chances. I'm not sure that a ship equipped
with a complex satellite radio with a lot of moving parts and a
technician is all that much better off than a ship was when they were
equipped with an MF-HF CW and SSB radio station and a radio operator who
was also a trained technician. All is well until something breaks and
the nearest part is 500 miles away over water.


CW was still in use for a some ship-to-shore work when I retired in 1995.

When I went to the high arctic in 1964 it was our main means of
communication with the south. We eventually converted that to RTTY and
SSB, but neither was really as effective as the CW that preceded.

Now, today, we have such things a PSK31 to do much of the grunt work.
That will work as well as CW in most cases, I find.

--
Dave Oldridge+
ICQ 1800667

"Dave Oldridge" wrote in message
. ..

[snip]


Now, today, we have such things a PSK31 to do much of the grunt work.
That will work as well as CW in most cases, I find.


Don't forget thought that solar flares and especially the aurora they create
induce a phase shift in signals and that wipes out PSK31.

Dee, N8UZE