Jamaica - No more Morse code for radio operators, technicians

Is it silly season again? This particular horse was pureed quite a few decades ago. Just because another country decided to join the rest of the world, is that a reason to start this argument all over again?

Is it?

The real problem here is the one brought up by Karl-Arne SM0AOM: That being the problem of folks getting licensed, for what ever reason, and then dropping out. Instead of arguing about license requirements, we should be trying to make ham radio relevant enough to keep people interested and active.

Now, having said that, with the requirements being relaxed to the degree that they are now many people are getting licensed for all the wrong reasons.

EMMCOM (yuck!) I hate that acronym, licensing has resulted in way too many people getting a license because they bought into the hype about ham radio communications, or maybe because their employer thought it was a good idea "for emergencies"! What a bag of hot air. Ham radio works in emergencies not because of the emcomm preppers, but because when the SHTF happens we were already there.

Our (USA) national organization did ham radio in this country a disservice by promoting that idea. Other countries bought into the same idealistic BS. Jamaica is merely one of the latest organizations to buy into the line.

Great, OK! I get it. We as a group only exist at the forbearance of our local governments. If that means that they basically want to ignore us, or water down the entry requirements, well at least we still exist. Ham radio is not a "right" it is a privilege, and in some countries it does not exist at all.

So, lets cut the crap, stop arguing about entry requirements and get those noobs on the air where they belong! If they do not have an interest in that, we will be better off without them. Getting hams on the rolls just to bump up the numbers does no one any good.

 

I see that big straight key gap in the movies all the time and yes I find it annoying also.

 

I hear S10, 10-4 and good buddy more and more on the air nowadays, especially so on 80 and 40 meters.

 

On the list of issues affecting amateur radio, Morse testing in any country is about number 104,472,816.

That this issue generates more than 90 posts of spirited debate in under three days is indicative of a problem. Not with the issue, but with us.

It's so nice to be able to say that.

 

I'm deaf in my left ear thanks to my time served in the U.S. military and I'm also dyslexic going back to early childhood. The dyslexia did make it harder for me to learn CW also but I stuck with it and passed the 13 and 20 wpm Morse code tests.

Becoming an SWL beginning in 1965 and listening to lot's of utility stations helped me learn Morse code at at least 5 wpm but I didn't realize it at the time. But I've never let my Morse code skill inflate my personal ego and cause me to look down on others. To me that's more of a character flaw than anything else

 

I thinks it's us mostly lamenting about how lowering knowledge and performance standards at every level and facet of our society in the past 40 years or so has eaten us from the inside out like a cancer and killing our competitive edge in the global economy. I see it everywhere every day and it's really sad.

 

. . . now if i could just get one of them to confirm on LoTw

 

Speaking strictly of Morse code, that is an antiquated mode, not used by anyone but hams. Whether or not you know it or not doesn't help you in day to day activities, your career, or your educational goals. It would help you communicate with other hams, but that is about it.

Kind of like the new kids not being able to load and fire a flintlock rifle, or saddle a horse, or hitch a buggy to a team. All of those things are antiquated, yet they have appeal to those who are interested in that particular facet of yesteryear.

This whole worry about Jamaica, with their 84 licensed hams (or whatever the current number is). We've made more posts in this thread than there are licensed hams in Jamaica.

 

Good for you. I have always admired ops who can copy CW like it was nothing. It was always a struggle for me, and 20 wpm was quite a challenge! I used to do slow speed rag chewing, but it's always been a struggle. I'm glad you're having fun with it!

 

Exactly.

This has become the main problem of the national societies today, they view success purely as quantity instead of quality.
Most have self-serving agendas that are aimed exclusively towards running the largest possible shop, without any regard to if there are any interest behind. The fraction of organised radio amateurs has however dropped from 65-70% two generations ago, to around 30% in most countries, despite all efforts.

A related issue is that an abundance low-quality radio amateurs tends to tax the patience of the regulators, which nowadays seldom get any licence fees in return for their efforts. It has become a quite wide-spread sentiment among European regulators that the fewer radio amateurs the better.

People inside the regulatory agencies that defend amateur radio are unfortunately sometimes risking their careers.

One example is from the aftermath of the struggle for 15 kHz around 5 MHz at WRC15, where one Swedish delegate put in some 100 man-hours in preparations and actual negotiations, and got a reprimand from his superiors in return.
This official will soon retire, and one can only speculate about what his successor may adopt as a stance towards amateur radio.

Our continuing access to spectrum is critically dependent on good relations with the Authorities, which nowadays are completely devoid of any altruistic reasoning.

Amateur radio has to earn its keep by presenting a reasonable quality level, otherwise we are destined to the "dustbin of history".

73/
Karl-Arne
SM0AOM

 

Here in the U.S. 60 meters is kind of a mess with channelization, and now soon to be a very narrow continuous band allocation with low power, with both allocations in force together or possibly the old one going bye bye. But it doesn't stop me from operating on 5357 kHz every night on the JT65A and JT9 digital modes, with 5-30 watts depending on band conditions.

I'm also for quality over quantity. I'm a very active ham on 160-2 meters on virtually all existing modes and can testify that the ham bands are virtually empty compared to 5 to 10 years ago and almost totally empty compared to say 20-25 years ago. Most of the really active and really knowledgeable hams are SK now and they leave behind many appliance operators with poor a knowledge of electricity, electronics, antennas, radio wave propagation, operating procedures, civil behavior and appreciation and respect for the hobby and themselves.

As I mentioned in an earlier post I hear more and more operators with poor audio quality saying S10, 10-4 and good buddy. It's really sad. And the same thing has happened everywhere in our culture and society, incompetence and mediocrity is now the norm.

 

Jamaica - No more Morse code for radio operators, technicians

Did not read all the posts some seemed to go off topic nothing new however hardly seems much of an issue in a country with a total of 84 hams.
http://www.n0hr.com/ham_radio_population.htm

 

You didn't catch my point there. I was saying that I was busy and acknowledged that I didn't have time to learn code or play radio, so I didn't. That said, tell me what you deem to be the appropriate minimum amount of time to spend on the radio. How many hours per week? Any less than that makes you a lousy operator who has no business working the bands at all?

You also seem to make it sound as if learning code is a quick and easy task that anyone should be able to pick up without a problem. Yet, if you look at virtually any material discussing how to learn code, it says you should treat it like learning a foreign language and that can take years to do. Do you really expect that people, especially in today's world, should put in years of time learning CW before ever touching a radio? I hear a lot of grumbling in amateur radio how clubs seem to be populated primarily by old guys and very few young operators. Tell me where people who are going to school, working, probably pulling in overtime or working two jobs, raising kids, etc., are supposed to have unlimited time and money to invest in a HOBBY?

 

It was fun when I had to learn 5 wpm for a novice ticket in the 80's, which I did nothing with. And now it is great fun to already have all my tickets and be an operating ham, while I practice code whenever I get to it. CW is still cool, although difficult for me, but I would have missed a couple years of being a ham if it was still a requirement to get started. The current rules work well for me.

 

Morse code and incentive licensing delayed my entry in to ham radio by at least 15 years
and incentive licensing was a bigger mistake than keeping the code so long ....
the only FCC tests i had trouble passing was code i did pass the 13 though then ran rtty almost 20 years
Dave wd8cyv