Morse code not on the way out

[NI7I]

When I retired, my union had under contract 2 cruise ships that more or less stayed around the Hawaiin islands. You would be hard pressed to findd a radio
room on them. The radio officer's function on those ships was/is primarily to keep the ships LAN going, performing maintenence and repairs on the nav electronics.
Taking care of the GMDSS console on the bridge and keeping the hundreds of hand held radios functional.. (this is primarily swapping out batteries.. the radios
are throw aways) There are still outfits that service ship board electronics. The pay is generally not that great. The skill level reqauired is high for what the
compensation is, as a rule. A lot of installation work. A lot of the repair work now involves first, firguring out what an unqualified mate or engineer has
done then figureing out the original problem.. Many of the mates and engineers that smoke something in an attempt at repairing it wont admit to what
they have done.. Makes it a bit interesting. In some cases the tech has to sail with the ship to do what ever it is needs to be done.. This doesnt happen
all that often. With some of the contractors, flying to meet the ship to make repairs is done. There are oportunities, but the pay, as I said, doesnt
really equal the qualifications required.

NI7I

That's depressing. I want to get my GROL and hoped to work my way around on a cruise ship radio room. You just ruined my retirement plans. But really, what commercial value is anything we learn in this hobby? Other than fixing or selling ham gear, maybe the occasional electronics enthusiast turns pro, but all this learning with no payday. Have to love it I guess to stick with it.

[N2EY]

Mikaila Williams(KK4BFK) lives in Florida and at age 9 she is the youngest Extra Class Amateur. She proves that there is absolutely no valid excuse for not upgrading...if you get my drift.

She may be the current youngest, but she is not the youngest Extra ever. I think the record is 7 years old. When did KK4BFK get the license?

Way back in the mid-1990s there was an Extra who earned the license at the age of 8. While in the third grade. Passed all 5 written exams they had back then (Novice, Technician, General, Advanced, Extra) and all three code tests (5 wpm, 13 wpm and 20 wpm). Not all at the same time, though.

73 de Jim, N2EY

[N2EY]

. Th kicker was that there were TIME SCALES for license holding to be incentive-ized. You couldn'y jusy walk in and take all the elements to extra.

Dumb.

Bad scar in ham radio history.

The only experience requirement after 1953 was that an Extra had to have 2 years as a Conditional, General or Advanced. In the early 1970s it was reduced to 1 year, then eliminated.

73 de Jim, N2EY

[N2EY]

I dont understand why ligitimate extras arent more offended

Who is a "legitimate" Extra?

In my book, it's anybody who earned the license according to the rules in force at the time they earned it.

And I say that as someone who got his Extra in 1970, at an FCC office, after the 2 year wait, passing 20 wpm sending (with a straight key) and receiving and the secret, pre-Bash/pre-VEC written test.

If a ham earned the license by the required means, s/he is "legitimate". The only non-legitimate hams are those who cheated to get the license.

btw, Extra never required 25 wpm. And there are no CW-only subbands on the US HF ham bands. Not one Hz. All shared with data modes.

73 de Jim, N2EY

[AA7EJ]

CW and phone are like cowpoke's rides. They smell and sound differently.
CW will be here as long as there are cowboys riding horses, even when wast majority prefer to ride ATV four wheelers.
73 Vaclav

[W7WQ]

No, the extra segments should be increased.

[WB9UJS]

No, you don't. You need the year of service on a ship or coastal station to take the test for the FIRST CLASS (T1). Most operators start off with the T2, not the Third class ticket which only lets you operate at a coastal station. The advantage we have here in Tampa is that we have a ship where they can actually operate CW on the maritime frequencies. Even without that it is something worthwhile to attain.
-73-
Mark
WB9UJS
T2 Pg DB

[KD0OD]

Who is a "legitimate" Extra?

In my book, it's anybody who earned the license according to the rules in force at the time they earned it.

And I say that as someone who got his Extra in 1970, at an FCC office, after the 2 year wait, passing 20 wpm sending (with a straight key) and receiving and the secret, pre-Bash/pre-VEC written test.

If a ham earned the license by the required means, s/he is "legitimate". The only non-legitimate hams are those who cheated to get the license.

btw, Extra never required 25 wpm. And there are no CW-only subbands on the US HF ham bands. Not one Hz. All shared with data modes.

73 de Jim, N2EY

I stand corrected and appreciate it. Let me be clear. I dont care what they give to who for what. I think they should give what was earned"according to the rules in force at the time they earned it" back to those who earned them. I might be wrong again, but wasnt general the highest amateur license ubtil incentive licening. Im sure they had all privlidges allowed to amateures. Incidentally I did drive over 150 miles in a flash flood to take the test..

[WW1I]

I learned CW as a 14 year old kid. After that, I was a college student and a Air Force pilot that didn't have time to play radio. I just got back into it, some thirty years later. Let's get our head straight here..... CW is a digital mode and nothing more. There are many digital modes out there, and CW is by far the worst. I also don't know shorthand. I no longer use my slide rule. I never write text in cursive. I can make a digital recording. I have a computer. I type docs. in MS word format and I can type 100wpm. Look....if you want to bang away on a key because it's fun, go for it. This is a hobby. The idea that only folks that use CW can be in the hobby is simple minded and moronic.

[NX1T]

I am one of those "no-code Extra's" and... a CW op since May of last year. More than 1300 CW QSO's to date, 111 DXCC entities worked on CW alone. My log is primarily CW and digital modes these days. On the low bands I rarely if ever tune the SSB portions of the band anymore - not because I don't like the mode - there's simply too much to do and occupy my time in the bottom 50 khz of any band. CW and digital modes on the low bands are the way for a modest station like mine. And yeah its fun to chase DX on 80/160m with a simple wire antenna and 100W and much more rewarding with a simple setup vs. phone.

But I have to say it did take me a long time to learn the code. And it was hard (for me) due to my own peculiar learning style, or whatever. Took almost a year since I took up code practice. I quit and restarted from square one several times. Had to overcome "stage fright" of the 1st CW QSO (thanks to my friend NK1V for a nice sked.)

I regret that CW was the thing that probably derailed my original intent to get a ham ticket back in 1996, after high school. Just didn't have the patience, and then college and other priorities took over... for the next 12 years.

But I'm here now, having a blast and hope to keep CW alive as long as I make QRM on the bands.