FCC MUM ON MORSE CODE ISSUE

well im glad they do

 

Exactly, why not have an area on your licence with a space for "CW certified". Stamp that space with an official FCC stamp of approval once attained. That will make a lot of people happy who want to prove to themselves (and others) that they have done it.
But i personally agree with Fred's view. He made some very good points in his post.
VK has been code free for the licence for a couple of years now, and with the addition of the new entry level licence we have seen a mini-boom in new Amateurs.
All good stuff. And theres nothing stopping anyone from learning and using CW on the bands once they have their ticket.
And regards the FCC, well, they are slow arent they?? Almost makes our radio Authority look like their working at warp 9.9... All the VK's did to get action, was to get well organised and vocal. And in the end, they pulled their fingers out and got things done(ACMA). I think the VK hams have a better relationship with our authority, than you US hams have with the FCC...(My opinion.)
Next... Now how do we go about getting rid of BPL?... (A FAR MORE IMPORTANT ISSUE!...)

Les, VK3TEX.

 

Amen on this! I have always felt this way.

I know NCT's that can build repeater systems for a hamsat, design and build modified EME yagis and then go talk to a classroom full of kids about how much fun ham radio is...all by dinnertime.

I also know of quite a few 20 wpm extras that cant even spell correctly and have the social skills of mold spores.

Im a 20 wpm extra and it is embarassing to see how some of our "ham radio ambassadors" talk to new hams...based on a flippin' license class. if that isnt pathetic, i dont know what is.
If you want to learn code, great, i love code...its a great old tradition in ham radio and i will always use it. but if it doesnt float your boat, i am just a human being like the rest of you...who am i to judge? quite honestly, i cant design a repeater system at this time, i feel a little sheepish about that. it doesnt mean that if i were so inclined, i wouldnt have the drive and determination to get it done...it just means im not interested in repeaters, i prefer HF and DXing, and i do build my own HF antennas. hint hint...we tend to do what makes us happy.

CW doesnt make the ham, the ham does this....and i know MANY great hams that just happen to be NCT's.


73...Adam, N7YA

 

Andrew,

I agree, actually, i couldnt agree more. When i was a tech back in the early 80's, i got on the air a lot and was never asked what my license class was...when hams actually get on the air those things tend to melt away. especially when the condx blow like they do right now.

In the USA, yes it may be a larger land mass, there may be more hams...but unfortunately, most of us over here are a bit numb to what others think of us. many downright dont care. but in my own experience, it goes back to my previous comment...when i get a ham on the other end, neither of us care, were just happy to make a contact. its all fun, either way.

And in a year or two, the bands will be showing a new face, slowly but surely...i am more than ready for some DXing!! maybe we can qso one of these days.

73...Adam, N7YA

 

See you guys on CW.
Know code.
That is all.

 

Well, NOW were getting somewhere!!

Fred, i appreciate the honesty...and i feel i am in the wrong business. then you must also get a kick out of how ridiculous some of us look as we tear eachother up over these things. i guess i enjoy the battles too. theres nothing wrong with generating profit, why not...i can clearly see that the "fred does this to make money" conspiracy is no longer fun to speculate about as you have simply confirmed it. that just took the wind out of the sails on that one.

Moving on down your post...I am a 20 wpm extra too, whoopee for me. and i prefer CW too, we agree on this.
I was never quite sure on your views, however...im not that keen, i suppose. thats ok. quite honestly, i couldnt care less if they keep it or abolish it...i will still use it, and new hams coming in that arent interested in it will not use it...but thats certainly no measure of their intelligence.

Now, on to the rest of your post...i am in agreement all the way. your average teen wouldnt be caught dead with an HT...and not expect to be catagorized a dork. only the true geeks dont mind this moniker...i formed a radio club in high school...want to know how many members i got to join? one...me! thank god i was a musician and wasnt afraid of a good scrap after 3:30...i would have been the school pariah. instead, most just regarded me as weird, still kind of proud of that title. music and being tough? cool! ham radio? nowhere NEAR being cool!! we agree completely on this.

I also agree, even the geeks over at the FCC are hoping we will just fall off the face of the earth...we serve no purpose, dont kid yourselves. we take up valuable bandwidth and they know we will completely freak out if they touch even a little bit of it...i bet Riley gets no love over there. hes probably never invited out for an O'Douls after work...just a sneaking suspicion.

Oh yeah...they are also a government entity...we all know how effective THEY are!

Im all about tradition, but tradition should be preserved by a few who are good at this sort of thing...like a museum curator is. its a very important job, but we need to move forward, and i couldnt agree more....lets go find those geeks and get them involved, and i hate to say it, its not CW that will entice them, its new technology...and we have a ton of it!! Have faith, CW is a hardy mode, it will find its way into the fold...and there will ALWAYS be members of the new generation of hams (regardless of how small the new numbers may be) that will find a certain allure with the traditions of ham radio...i.e. CW. Ham radio will change if it is to survive, but CW will live on.

There are no absolutions, if the code test is dropped...i can assure you that the entire mass of new hams arent just going to sit there and slobber on HT's. MANY will get involved in numerous other modes, including CW...same goes, if the code test remains, whats to guarantee that it will prevent more hams from eventually becoming negative elitists, jamming nets and spewing hatred of anything THEY didnt grow up with. we STILL have the code test, and we have more self-imploding, self-rightous extras than ever before. why is that?

Anyway, this thread will undoubtedly be a success for you, and with the new light...i hope you prosper from it. Things arent going to change and hams...i mean us fellow Americans...are going to continue to attack eachother over vital, life and death matters like this so very deeply spiritual and awe inspiring subject know universally as the precious code debate.

Truth be told....no one, aside from us, cares about ham radio. let try to enjoy it while we have it. enjoy it in any way you see fit.

Thanks for the chime in, Fred. good post. not that my opinion really matters in the big picture...but you know how it is, our human nature wont allow me to NOT post a reply. well, thats SHOULD be enough from me for one night...maybe.

73...Adam, N7YA

 

Regardless of if we keep it or not...the best ticket you can have to show that you know the code is a DX qsl card with "CW" or "A1A" under 'mode'.

Hang that sucker right up on the wall...THAT is real accomplishment for a new ham with an interest in CW.

73...Adam, N7YA


(...oops, i lied...i wasnt done posting, i guess.)

 

Now where's that crying towel? I know it is here somewhere....

 

Been in this 50 years. The first time I ever ran into anyone who was 'class conscious' was in 1992, when someone, learning my call sign (which was then W0RKX) said to me, "sounds like a Tech to me." I had been an Extra since 1970.

Class consciousness became a reality after 1991, when the NCT license was created. Prior to that I never, ever met an Extra who looked down on those of lower class. I met darned few who could not take the time to answer questions or help newcomers. But following the creation of the NCT, it is true a good many hams, from Extra down through General, viewed this new code-free ticket as a CB license.

What made it worse, though, was the next major move. Lowering the code speed for all classes. Combined with published test answers, the Extra Class license lost a lot of its meaning. What did happen, though, was the darned class consciousness stayed. So the "New Extra', who really had just memorized answers and passed a 5 wpm test, now suddenly found "Hey! I'm at the top of the pile." And he joined the class-conscious team.

So the rift widened. What is difficult to understand about all this, is back when an Extra class did NOT have to ask how to plug in a key, cut a dipole, or read an SWR meter, he was willing to, and anxious to, mentor - Elmer if you will - the newer ham. Now he CAN'T mentor the newer ham, as he had no experience himself. The reality is, for many of the Extras (not all) knowledge and experience is less than the former Novice Class! He is now the one asking the questions, not the one answering them.

But it is not realistic, as Fred did, to lump all Extras into that category. Nor is it realistic to make a broad statement that Technicians are the technical ones and Extras are lax ones. There are indeed many Technician class hams who are highly qualified in electronics, and many Extras who don't know how to read a DVM. But there are many thousands of Technicians who know nothing more about radio than where the PTT switch is, and many thousands of Extras, even the new ones, who can dive into your Motorola HT and repair it.

I knew a Technician, back in the early 1960s (when the license had a whole different meaning than it does today) who knew more about basic and advanced electronics than probably 90 percent of all hams. I spent hours at his house, watching him build a 14 tube (using pencil tubes) receiver for VHF and UHF.

In that same period I knew an Extra Class ham who bought a new Collins 75A4, found it did not meet his needs, and pretty much completely rebuilt it, with the exception of the PTO.

I also knew a fellow, a General, who (being a lawyer with lots of money) bought a new Collins S-line, when the S-lines were very new on the scene, and had some guys from the local club come over, unpack it, hook it up, test it, plug in the mike.

There are extremes on both sides. But when we get away from the extremes, we find that there are technically qualified hams in the entire licensing range. I would never automatically assume that just because a person held a Tech ticket, OR an Extra ticket, that I could guess his or her knowledge in electronics or radio. I have zero doubt there are many of today's Techs, and Novices as well, who could teach me a few things, and maybe a lot of things, about tubes!

However, I disagree with Fred. We are rapidly moving away from being a technical hobby. In general (and I am ignoring the exceptions mentioned above) the hobby is markedly less technical than it was two decades ago, and very dramatically less technical than it was four or six decades ago.

A good bit of the reason for that is advancing technology. No longer are hams required to repair their own gear as was the case in the 40s and 50s and even into the 60s. The radios are too small, require specialized tooling, good eyes, steady hands. That was not true in the tube era. And what WAS true in the tube era was most of us could not afford to ship our radios out to someone to be repaired. We did it ourselves because we had to - there was no place to send it. We had a more knowledgeable friend help, sure, but in the process we learned. That is no longer the case, and I DO make that as a general statement.

Of course, another reason is expense, and still another is time. Radios, especially VHF ones, are far cheaper, in comparsion, today than they were in the 60s. We set them in the closet and buy another one. And as for time, most people today are working far longer hours than people did in the 50s, just to survive.

But amateur radio has changed aside from those factors. Even the term electronic technician no longer means the same thing. Today a technician replaces boards. No one replaces components on a board, or even troubleshoots to the component level. In the business world it is not cost efficienty to have someone sit there and try to figure out which chip is bad on a mother board or a video card. Throw the darned thing out and replace it. The use for knowledge based on Basic DC or AC theory is almost non-existent except in engineering and design. That carries over into amateur radio, too.

I guess, then, in defining ham radio as a technical hobby we have to figure out what we mean by technical. If it is basic theory, the answer is pretty much a resounding 'no.' If it is programming, or replacing circuit boards, or installing antennas, we do a bit better. If it is in-depth repair of sophisticated radios, today's equivalent of the top of the line ham radios of the 50s and 60s, well, 'those days are gone.'

Today I view ham radio, in general terms, as a user hobby. Nearly all of us do it this way - buy a radio, put up an antenna, get on the air. That's it. And often it is "buy an antenna" as well. Do we need AC and DC theory? Hardly. Do we need to know Ohm's Law? Not very often. We don't need to know the theory in tubes, transistors or chips. All we have to know is they are there.

Sure, there are exceptions, as there always are. But, at least by my definition, ham radio is not at all a technical hobby. It doesn't have to be.

Ed

 

I have a comment in response to the previous post by Ed, W5HTW...

  I totally agree with the assessment that amateur radio has become LESS a technical hobby and MORE an end user hobby...but I want to discuss one particular point...

 Ed mentioned that the concept of the modern Eelectronics Expert has changed in recent years, moving from component level troubleshooters to board swappers.

 Obviously with monolithic integration, surface mount technology, and advanced and more complicated circuitry, this is very true, but it doesn't always have to be....And people who do this kind of work for a living can benefit from actually DOING some component level repairs and becoming a more valued craftsman in the proccess.

  I certainly won't claim to have the skills of an OT amateur or a TV repairman from pre-1980's, when Electronics were a lot more expensive and repairs were cost effective, but I occasionally have to dwelve into circuit repair with my work.

  I'll give you a prime example of a component level type repair that I occasionally see that gets me "kudos" from my employer. Many instruments at my work location have I/O circuits with drive or switching transistors/chips or relays. Sometimes, when a load shorts, or in the case of a DC motor, when the bearings fail, and a locked ROTOR condition occurs, the increase in current will take out a drive component. Now, for someone with good logical thinking skills, the fault is not difficult to find, but very often, the circuit boards are very pricey, and sometimes we have to overnight order them. Well, here is where I come in, and provide a valuable skill. We have an electronics distributor here in town, and very often they stock an NTE replacement for said component, if it is a non-proprietary component. Sometimes, when the instrument is vital for the operation of our facility and downtime costs a lot of money, it is cost-effective to run down to this retailer and get a replacement.

....NO MAGIC HERE, but the people I work for think I am a genius when I make such repairs. It makes me a valuable asset to the company.

MY POINT
Ham radio can STILL be a hobby for the technical person. It is one of the reasons I got my ticket, to expand my knowledge base and to learn new things.

I encourage all people who THINK that electronics repair by neccessity has to be a board-level affair, to rethink this. I encourage all interested amateurs to take the FCC Part 97 admonishion that we be "electronics experts" seriously, and take the time to read and study and understand schematics. amateur radio is one of the rare few consumer interests where schematics are still readily available for the end user to perform self-repairs If you want service documentation for your DVD player or HD Television, you'll find it a pricey and sometimes difficult thing to obtain. But getting schematics for your ricebox radio is still a plausible thing, and often readily available EVEN FROM THE MANUFACTURER.

For any young person, teenager or young adult, who is reading this, take my advice....If you are interested in a career with technical challenges, perhaps electrical engineering or even servicing various equipment for a company, Take advantage of the learning opportunity that amateur radio provides. You might find yourself understanding more than you realize, and you might just land that good paying job, and you might impress someone with the skills that you develop from this fine hobby.

73 Heath

 

Thanks for making the distinction. There is a big difference between disliking no code people and disliking NCTs. No code people are the lazy whiners while NCTs are simply a nickname for the codeless license class. The NCT per se should not be blamed for the actions of a few babies.

 

Will you agree to jump off a tall building if they don't?

 

The thing that nobody has been able to answer is, What does access to HF have to do with attracting technically inclined people, the youth of our country, or smart Techs who hate CW "saving" Amateur Radio?

1. Technically inclined people who want the "latest and greatest" would want equipment operable on the bands authorized by the current NCT License. The technical "advancements" on HF are restricted to 20 year old data technology and voice. Anything you can do on HF related to technical persuits, you can do on 6m and above.

2. Youth of our country want data services. Providing those services on HF would tie up the entire band with one high speed data connection. They can do high speed data today on spectrum already allocated to Tech licensees without displacing thousands of SSB/AM and CW users.

3. What is left is the supposition is that letting existing Techs on HF will save the hobby. There is nothing preventing them from "saving" the hobby as Techs, is there? It is as if we've convinced ourselves that they will wake from some NCT induced sleep when they get on HF and make miraculous contributions.

HF access as a savior of Amateur Radio is a '50s solution to a 2006 problem. HF access has been the "holy grail" of Amateur Radio, and as a hobby for mostly older people, that idea permiates this solution. Whether telegraphy is old or relevent is immaterial. If you can't show how codeless HF access is the magic bullet, then you're killing telegraphy testing for no reason.

What the no code movement is about is so that a subset of existing Tech Class amateurs can get around the telegraphy test and shoot skip on HF. All the rest is just Bull$#it.

 

Hilarious. I'm guessing this was over coffee and croissants at the "house". I'm guessing during this conversation she also asked your opinion on the gulf war, how her hair looked today, and right after that, you followed her into her office, where she called Riley up and demanded that they finish the code decision TODAY.

On second thought, I'm putting all my money on code remaining today in Vegas. I think I'll call my bookie and revise that bet. With these kind of glowing reports from Condi, I know for a fact code is here to stay.

Hallejuah!

 

ARS is properly steeped in a cogent tradition-- hopefully the FCC will keep our standards high and keep the code for HF----- keep the lid retard device, a good mode and a solid ars--- keep the code