CANADA REPORTS AGREEMENT TO DROP MORSE

Ya, I guess you are right Charlie. I do have a LOT of trouble making "contact" with fellow amateurs. With over 12,000 cw Q's a year I guess you are right. Poor me.

Have fun on your local 2 meter repeater next weekend while I will be 100% cw from Martinique as TOØO for a 15 day DXpedition. Sure hope I can find some fellow OP's who want to make "contact" with me!!


Good luck,


Tom kcØw & toØo

 

No matter what Canada and the rest of the world does ... it will still be at least 2009 before the FCC makes the changes...

they still have not yet released their initial report from the first set of readings that they are conducting (they asked for input early 2003).. after that is done then it takes many many many months (years) of going from one committee to another for writes and re-writes...

so everyone -- take a deep breath -- aint nothin going to happen for at least 4 more years...

 

k1yv brought up the very thing i wanted to.    i am a general class and i had to study for hours about modes that i do not use. ( RTTY,  digital modes  ) don't get me wrong i did not mind having to learn about these modes and may use them some day. Funny thing is i don't hear the same people who complain  that they don't want to learn code because they don't plan on useing it complain about having to learn about other aspects of ham radio that they might not use. Are these people willing to say that  they think questions about RTTY, packet emissions on the 10 meter band, Baudot codes, AMTOR operating modes or ASCll should be left off the test because some hams may never use them ?  I wish someone who is for doing away with morse code testing would answer that for me.
 Keith
 WD4PTJ

 

More importanly, without code, what will become of fan dipoles?

 

Extra Privileges for Sale: $10
When I was first licensed way back when in the "good old days", I didn't know many Hams that held the Amateur Extra ticket.

In the 1960s, and through the 1980s, to have an Amateur Extra Class license really was something special. I can recall holding in genuine awe those with the top ticket.

To become an Amateur Extra was an honor, and it required at least a small degree of desire, self education, and dedication

* First: An applicant must have already been licensed for at least two years.

Your time as a Novice didn't count.

* Second: You had to pass a test - a real test.

Nowadays a written test is required for all classes of licenses, but in fact it is just a formality. You see, the entire set of test questions, including all of the correct answers are published by the FCC for anyone to see! Can you imagine if you could have taken every test in High School or College after you had looked over every possible question along with the answers?!

* Third: In addition to the written test, there was a Morse Code examination.

To qualify for the Amateur Extra, an applicant must demonstrate, in the presence of an FCC Examiner, the ability to Send and Receive Code at 20 WPM. To make it more difficult, the test criteria was solid copy for a full minute.

Did you notice that I said SEND and RECEIVE?

And for a Full minute of solid 100% correct copy?

In later years, the sending requirement was eliminated, and solid copy wasn't required either. The applicant was merely asked a few questions regarding the text sent - sometimes in multiple choice format!

Today, no Morse code is required at all for the Extra Class License other than the same 5 WPM that I took as a Novice.

Now, in a misguided spirit of political correctness, anyone with half a brain, and $10 can have an Amateur Extra ticket issued to them.

In my humble opinion, it is a terrible shame to have eliminated the incentive licensing program.

The incentive for self improvement and education was additional spectrum in most of the Amateur bands.

Now, the extra spectrum once reserved for those that worked hard and achieved a higher level of knowledge and skill is being handed out to anyone capable of coughing up 10 bucks to sit for a "test". A "test" for which every question and answer is freely available. The result is that the Extra portions of the HF bands are populated with many licensees that have no knowledge, skill, courtesy, experience or a real love for the hobby.

About the only value I associate with my Amateur Extra ticket is the knowledge that I qualified back in the good old days when the privileges could only be earned and not bought.

 

Correct. If they drop the code requirement, those of us who know and use code will instantly and mysteriously loose our code abilities. Noone else will ever learn it. Better work us on CW now, while you still can!

 

OK, I'll answer that for you.... Drop the code test and add a few questions on CW operation to the written tests.... That would be equal to you having to study about the other modes....

 

Apparently not. It seems you are striving to become something less.

Obviously, Jeffery is having a problem distinguishing between a "classy operator" and an "opinionated and passionate amateur radio operator", both of which are mutually exclusive.

My operating skills and on the air etiquette are second to none, as is known worldwide by the thousands of operators whom have worked me, both in and from multiple countries.

But then again, since Jeffery obviously spends more time griping about code rather than practicing it, how could I expect him to know this? He can't get on HF and work me!

David ~ KY1V

PS: Your opinions are welcome Jeffery, but don't spread misinformation about people you don't know and have never heard on the air.

 

I have a friend that lives in another part of NC, who upon hearing that the code requirement was being downgraded several years ago, and being a holder of the 13 wpm Advanced license, and who probably hadn't made a cw qso in years, proceeded to refamiliarize himself with it to upgrade to 20 wpm and pass the Extra class license before the new requirement went into effect. I was very proud of him for that. It was a display of class that few in this forum can appreciate.

 

I see the HF landscape staying alive if code requirements drop. I don't believe it will become another "CB playground". I hear much more respectful conversations on 2 meters than I EVER have on HF. The only operators I have heard using foul language has been on HF. Police yourselves, before pointing fingers at us "wannabes". Oh, if code requirements had been dropped a few years back, BPL would have had a much LARGER HF contingent to deal with, instead of a few die hards.
I have respect for anyone that takes the time to learn a new (old?) mode. But, as a requirement, I believe it's time has come and gone. There will probably be just as many people learning CW, even if it isn't a requirement. CW will be around for a long, long time, just not as a requirement, and yes, it should be retained for Extra Class, and possibly kicked up a few wpm, for those who really want the license.

 

I'm a new general and after passing the code I feel that the 5 wpm exam is at least a way to show your motivated enough to earn HF privileges. I honestly don't believe 5 wpm is so difficult that it would prevent anyone who really wanted to gain access to HF to follow through and earn those bands .

I've talked to more than a few Technicians that believe that they are going to be grandfathered in automatically as generals without taking the written or even submitting applications for the upgrade. Most of these people are just waiting and cursing the FCC because they’re taking so long in giving them their new privileges.

All I can do is hope the FCC does require them to take the general written, and offsets the loss of code with a more difficult written exam.

 

Well all you old timers think you are not going to be around to much longer maybe 10-15 years at the most and if you have it your way there will be no one on HF well that will be good to the FCC will just make some more money off the HF bands
so all you old cry babies need to get off your high horse and join the ones of us that want it to go no code for HF

As for me I am just a Tech but i cannot hear tones from 700hz to 1800hz and I cannot pass the code test
and there was to many people getting Dr's to say that they could not hear the tones to pass the code so they did away with something that a few of us need but we live on and think that if they were to take and make all the people that never took a code test all tech's how many would be on HF now

But I for one will be on HF doing MARS doing something good other than just rag chewing I just have a few people that i know that are on HF and they do not get on that much anymore because of all the fighting and going on it is getting like the 11meter band on 40 and on 75 at night all the time SO LET THE FCC HAVE ALL THE HF BANDS AND TURN THEM OVER TO THE ARMED FORCES and then see who cries and says in 19?? i had to do 25 words a min.
Well i have had my say on this matter

Billy
KD5ZLA

 

I guess I'm the strange one.  HF never interested me.  They could hand me the privilages and a radio and chances are I wouldn't really use it.  DX and contesting isn't my bag.  Experimentation is.

Fact is there is CB mentality on HF and VHF/UHF.  Knowing code dosen't really weed that out.  However due to the sheer number of Tech's that would flock to HF if this happens in the US, the CB mentality would increase.

I really think when they do drop that requirement here in the US, they ought to toughen up the written part.  

It drives me crazy how many hams do not know how to put on a PL-259 connector on coax.

Thats my two cents

 

It amazes me how many people claim a medical problem keeps them from learning Morse code.

Check out eHAm, there are dozens of people with medical claims.

I am willing to bet that if you learned the code, let's say at 600Hz or 1900Hz, someone would administer the test in a manner that would enable you to demonstrate your proficiency.

So, if that where the case, would you learn the code or provide another excuse?

David ~ KY1V

 

I feel that the writing is on the wall vis a vis the Morse Code requirement. It's part of our history but time marches on. The ranks up here are thinning rapidly and I think there will be more young people interested in becoming Hams if the CW requirement is eliminated. There is talk of beefing up the tech side of the exam in lieu of CW for HF access. The world will go on and I for one would love to see a few younger faces at our club meetings and flea markets. Cheers, Peter, VE3KWM