How are we going to tell the world how to bring "those sons of b!tches down"?
Posted on 02/23/2007 6:45:07 PM PST by vintage patriot
Morse code is in need of some serious SOS.
The language of dots and dashes, first used during the infancy of electronic communication in the mid-1800s, is going the way of Latin.
Beginning today, amateur or "ham" radio operators in the United States won't be tested in Morse code – also known as Continuous Wave – in order to be licensed by the federal government.
In an effort to advance the hobby, the Federal Communications Commission in December agreed to eliminate the five-words-per-minute Morse code requirement for people seeking their upper-level class licenses.
(Excerpt) Read more at ocregister.com ...
Holy Moly, what are the Red Sox to do???
I remember the commercial test like it was yesterday--tubes, tubes, and more tubes.
ping
Sooner or later we will all be silent keys.
BOOOOO.
Real operators saturated the low end of 20 with 4 element yagis and 3 element quads and worked the world with 100 watts at 30wpm.
Just wait till that nuc air burst hits. Country will be crying for HF men of old hunkered over those incandescent miracles of the dash.
My dad had an amateur license; he really loved radio in general and cw in particular.
Amatuer = Amateur
Another vanishing skill...
How are we going to tell the world how to bring "those sons of b!tches down"?
I think I can still copy 25GPM. I used to be able to copy about 15 and type my name in between groups. Those were the days. Going to work in the Philippines at 0400 with only a cigarette and a hangover for breakfast.
I can recall seeing tube testing machines in the local drug stores when I was a kid.
They were gone before I was ever able to figure out what the heck they were all about.
Did I miss much?
btt
I, too, passed the 13 WPM, but could never make the 20 wpm for the extra, made it ll the way to advanced before giving it up!
..._..._..._..._..._..._
WA0YGU, KA0TLA ur rst is 599, I still remember to this day my call sign in code
.-- .- ----- -.-- --. ..-
BWAAaaahahahahahahahahahahaaaaaaahahahaha,,,,can't help it !!!
You know it's comin',,,
Puter-Keys have A B C's
And you want One Key ????? hahahahahaha...;0)..Dat Funi !!
Yup, I remember those.
They were gone before I was ever able to figure out what the heck they were all about. Did I miss much?
Not much, although tubes are still used in high power RF transmitters because of their ability to barf out large quantities of power with impunity. Audio amps, especially guitar amps, still use tubes because of their desirable tonal qualities.
I don't know what I tested at on graduating from Radioman A school in the Navy, but once I left school, I never caught a ditty for the rest of my enlistment. And that was over forty years ago. It wasn't a wasted experience, just... underutilized.
Yes. Computers have keys and radios have microphones.
But mastering and using Morse is an all together different thing. And a lot more challenging.
If you think HAM radio operators are in it just for the 'communication' then you don't know any.
They'll regret this after the first EMP attack.
About 90% of my air time is spent working cw. There have been many times while on 40 meter ssb, mode of operation had to be switched to CW due to declining band conditions.
Yep. When I was learning Morse, I used to love to sit and listen on 40 cause even when conditions were 'poor' you could figure out what the 'ops' where saying.
I was even getting to the point of figuring out what was being communicated before they even finished.
Fun.
.........
- --- - .... . - --- .--.
(Just checking if I still knew it after 40+ years) Hank
I don't think the hobby is being 'advanced' at all.
I think the ARRL thinks the hobby will be 'advanced' with no code requirement. Meaning more members and buyers of radios?
Yes, they probaby want the spectrum, but countries that have eliminated the Morse requirement have noted an increase in CW activity.
I know since december that has been the case in the US. I believe SKN, Straight key night, was 300-400% more active....
How am I going to play dungeons and dragons with my overseas friends?
We'll need our CW skills if BPL takes off.
-.... ...-- ... -.-
-.. .
. -. - . .-. .--. .-. .. ... .
-... -
"I don't think the hobby is being 'advanced' at all. "
I agree.
"Yes, they probaby want the spectrum, but countries that have eliminated the Morse requirement have noted an increase in CW activity."
I haven't listened in a while, but the last time I did there seemed to be a bit more Morse activity then I remember.
Even so, the government has been trying to grab the frequencies for quite a while, and removing the code requirement and reducing the difficulty of the tests to attract more HAMS I think is going to have the opposite effect.
The test requirements are moving away from the 'technical' aspect and focusing more on the 'communications' part.
Seems to me that the 'reserve of qualified technicians and operators', which was the original intent of the creation of the Amateur Bands, is fading away pretty fast.
What's the average age of the current license holder? 55? 65? It's way up there that's for sure. And it's been climbing every year. The experience of the Japanese is the elimination of the Morse requirement and reducing the requirements brings in hundreds of thousands of new amateurs.
Here in Florida we have a very active, effective and experienced crew of hams on the hurricane net who give of their own time and resources on a regular basis in times of emergency.
Maybe more production and more sales will bring the prices down.
It's worked everywhere else. There doesn't seem to be any real competition among the manufacturers right now....compare it to the competition/pricing in marine vhf units.
You talkin' to me? ;-)
LOL.
No problem. It's amazing tho the same things you stated before I have heard repeatedly so being a little sensitive to your comments probably just showed my age! :)
I got my start on CB and felt something was lacking. That's when I went to my first 'HAM FEST' and discovered there WAS something more.
"50 years ago when I asked him why not just "talk",,,
"That takes some of the fun out of it."...
Today he would be a FReeper...;0)"
No doubt!
:0)
Why not 6SN7?
:)
I tend to agree with you. CB started out in an orderly manner when I first noticed it in the 60's and they seemed, to me, to be a lot like hams back then....but look what happened when everybody and everybody's dog got one and loaded the airwaves with all kinds of trash. They even went further and added linear amps and out-of-band capabilities to corrupt other services.
Fortunately with the new uhf (Family Radio or whatever they call them) frequencies and lower power, they are less dangerous.
What happens when these 'looney tunes' get their hands on a General license and go out to play in all the ham bands?
"CB started out in an orderly manner when I first noticed it in the 60's and they seemed, to me, to be a lot like hams back then..."
Yep. My first CB was a 5 channel EXECUTIVE tube type and I had many a conversation with out hearing 'breaker five' or 'how am I hitting ya?'. Even talked to a couple of nice fellows for about an hour before we all realized they were in Detroit and I was in Rochester, New York.
Back then the FCC was just 'down the street' in Canandaigua and they definately monitored the 'traffic'.
"What happens when these 'looney tunes' get their hands on a General license and go out to play in all the ham bands?"
Unfortunately, with the woeful lack of enforcement, they already are, without the license.
Hmmm, my experience with CW was strictly military, so I'm not sure exactly the significance of this is--but I'd be interested to know, and if I got it right--it's been a long time:
r
/? sk
de
enterprise
bt
Let me guess, "r" is "right" or just an acknowledgement,
"/? sk" I seem to remember has something to do with "copy" or signal????
"bt" is, what, equivalent of "sk" sign off?
Don't think I got much of that right.
Hank
Great on the Hurricane net. I've always wondered if CW is really "out of style". How old is the invention of the telephone? Is it out of style? Or is the concept of appreciating a skill out of style? Like mentioned before, it sure doesn't seem out of style when the condx are bad. :^)
>"Hate to see CW go "out of
>style". Here in Florida we have a
>very active, effective and
>experienced crew of hams on the
>hurricane net who give of their
>own time and resources on a
>regular basis in times of
>emergency."
You mean like on 80 meters?
Hate to see these skills go down the drain for lack of use.
IT's getting to be a skill akin to changing a typewriter ribbon. There aren't any telegrams anymore either.
Haven't been down there in a while, but you're scaring me.
Please tell me that these types haven't invaded the band:
I was hoping that cellular phones would pull them away from trashing the rest of the radio spectrum.
ping
And another vanishing Boy Scout Merit Badge....(I remember, because I had a helluva time with not only the dot, dot, dash stuff - but the semaphore flags, which were also required)
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