[AMRadio] An open letter to CW opreators

[Donald Chester]

IMO, if (should I say when?) the FCC drops the CW exam requirement, fewer 
people will even bother with CW. With the requirement to learn it, some ops 
(even @ 5 wpm) can be expected to explore the mode and develop an interest. 
Without the requirement to learn code, those newcomers will be fewer and 
further between.

If the FCC doesn't decide get rid of subbands altogether, the existing 
reserves for cw/digital at least need to be substantially reduced, due to 
the dearth of activity. The present situation, especially on 80m, is bad PR 
for CW; it makes the mode look lacking. Non-CW hams tune through all those 
vacant frequencies and decide "CW is dead - nobody works it any more. The CW 
bands are empty. Why bother to learn to comprehend Morse code?" With all the 
QRM, turf wars and childish behaviour in the overly-congested phone bands 
while 50% of the ham band lies practically idle, many phone ops are 
understandably becoming downright resentful of CW. If the "narrowband" 
subbands on 80 and 40 were reduced to a maximum of 50 or 75 kHz, the 
remaining cw activity would become concentrated into less space, and working 
CW would be more like it was 20 years ago. Often, with my RX in the 300 Hz 
selectivity position, I find it easy to tune right past and miss a lone cw 
station isolated in all the vacant kHz per tuning knob rotation. Reduction 
of the "CW bands" may very well be a key to whether or not CW survives as a 
mainstream mode.

Of course the CW bands do come alive during contests, but where do all those 
CW ops go when the contest is over? Contests add up to only a few days out 
of 365 days per year. Can we justify keeping nearly 50% of some of the most 
heavily occupied HF bands underutilised just for the convenience of 
contesters a few days a year? After all, many CW ops do not even operate 
contests.

As far as the "phone" bands go, belive it or not, there are a few users of 
those frequencies who do more than just buy an imported SSB squawk box with 
mic, and get on the air to talk about the weather and their latest ailments, 
and cuss out anyone whe dares come within 5 kHz of "their" privately-owned 
frequency. Actually there is a big controversy going on right now with a 
rulemaking petition pertaining to bandwidth. It seems that one group on 20m 
has declared war on a small minority of SSB operators who have dared to 
experiment with the mode, and (horrors!) actually take the lid off their box 
and probe around inside, and (double horrors!!) warm up a soldering iron and 
make MODIFICATIONS to their latest technical marvel. Now a couple of high 
power DX'ers have decided to play hardball by submitting a petition to get 
the FCC involved in their turf war.
Also, we mustn't forget that there are a few AM and SSTV operators using the 
"phone" segments, and these hams ponder the vacant CW frequencies while they 
ward off the SSB idiots (a small but vocal minority of SSB'ers).

Unless there is an IMMEDIATE upsurge in CW activity to fill the CW subbands 
24/7 (I'm talking in terms days or weeks, not months or years), the present 
subband situation will become increasingly disasterous to the best interests 
of both CW and non-CW operators.

Don K4KYV

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