[CW] For your consideration

[KØHB]

The following, written by a wise ham, AL7X , is about 4-5 years
old, but it bears repeating once in a while.

Enjoy

73, de Hans, K0HB

---Begin Forwarded message---


I am an Extra.  I was proud of it.  I had
a certificate on the wall issued by the FCC to prove it.  Then
in 1968 along cam incentive licensing.  That was in a previous life,
because in 1968 I died and became a bigot.  I thought that incentive
licensing was the final achievement, the culmination and triumph
of my being a better radio ham than lowly generals or conditionals.

I gloated with glee when the generals were kicked out of half of each
band.  I gloated that I could now operate among my own peer group
on 14, 205.  I even could gloat of my linear amplifier and my
102 ft tower that made my signal something to be reckoned with.  I
won the CQ WW WPX contest (for Alaska) one year.  Oh, man, I was
on top.

But in 1996, folks, the fellows from the local club came to me.
Ramon, help us out.  You are an Extra.  We need a VE.  So I said
okay, I'll go see what these lowlifes are up to and put an end to
this nonsense.

But, it didn't work out that way.  I was converted.  I saw the light.
I saw that these guys weren't low lifers, they wanted to be HAMS.
I had to recognize that you can't really build the equivalent of
a TS-450.  In the old days, CW was the state of the art, you mostly
built your gear.  CW testing was appropriate.  So I said to myself,
lets hold your tongue and see what these guys are up to.  So the club
went on to create a whole new generation of radio hams.  These guys
are good.  They are polite, they say "roger" and not "10-4 good
buddy"  They say "Is this frequency in use, or is anyone listening
on the repeater, instead of "breaker-breaker 19".  In other words,
these guys CARED for ham radio, its traditions and its values.  They
wanted to BELONG.

Okay, I said, lets go ahead and get the exams from the Anchorage VEC
and put them to the test.  Sure enough, they got licensed and are
now on the air.  Their calls are a giveaway, like WL7CSG, but by
golly, you couldn't tell them apart from a real ham otherwise.  And
why can't you?  Because they ARE real hams.

What about the code?  Well, like homebuilding it has its time and
place.  Nowadays a TS-450 costs the same as an old DX-100, or BC-610
or some old time monstrosity.  These guys want to get on the air and
enjoy the hobby.  Go moose hunting, fishing, picnicking and keeping
in touch with the crew back in town or over the next hill.  Sounds
no different than me!  Must be real hams.  Many have expressed
interest in HF.  They know the code is a requirement.  And they wonder
why.  They do not intend to use CW.  Why take a morse test?  The
FCC does not give a public speaking test before they allow you to
operate on 20 ssb.  Why not?  Because at the time the test was
devised CW was the principal mode, phone was an oddity for
experimenters, and the FCC tested in appropriate areas.

But somewhere along the line this principle became corrupted.  It
has become a symbol of elitism, bigotism, intolerance.  And the
saddest part is I am a CW man.  I like being on 14,005.  I like to
chase CW DX.  But browbeating some one else for what I like is not
proper.  No sir.  Lets test what needs to be tested, and not test
what does not need to be tested.  Have no fear of the no coders,
for they cannot intrude in the cw subbands unless they know the code.

Now if someone was proposing to do away with CW, or eliminate the
separation of the various incompatible modes to the detriment of
CW, then I think that by golly, I would deem that very prejudicial,
elitist, or bigoted and LOUDLY would I protest.  But the Code
TEST is a different thing altogether.  It bears no relationship to
what goes on in the cw bands.  We did not learn the code at the FCC
office.  We learned it at home or, in my case, at an old man that
was my Elmer.  When I took my code test for novice in 1959 I was
qualified to operate CW.  If there had been no use for CW, I think
that with a bit different training I could have been competent to
operate on 20 meters a.m. phone.  But I was trained on CW.  That was
the core of amateur radio back then.  AS a young child I ran wires
all over the neighborhood and hooked up telegraph keys and sounders
to other similarly minded kids homes.  Lots of fun.  But today, CW
is not what the public expects of amateur radio.  Times have changed.
I have changed.  I have seen the light.

And as for my Extra class license; all of a sudden I am not ashamed
of it anymore, because a few months after my eyes were open I realized
that was not a prejudiced s.o.b. upper-class-bigoted-elitist Extra.
No sir.  I was instead a VE, a teacher, a person around which people
gathered to learn from.  Sure, I am human, I love the attention
and probably some praise, but my attitude about me being BETTER just
vanished.  Better is relative.

The cycle of life goes on forever.  Babies are born, old men die.
The torch passes on.  The teenager that we are so sure just "doesn't
have it" "or it was different in my day" soon enough becomes the
daughter of my grandchild.  Soon enough she is 28.  I am an old man.
Soon enough I will die.  And I sure do not want people to think
"thank god that old idiot died".  No, I want them to say, "my teacher,
my Elmer died.  I learned a lot from him.  And when his time comes,
and we as a hobby have evolved into maybe faster than light commo
to the stars, using some exotic techniques and modes, the PRINCIPLE
will still exist and carry on.

Do we make fun of Marconi because he implemented the coherer detector
and the spark transmitter? ( I do not say invented ).  Do we make
fun because Sir Hiram Percy Maxim, W1AW, used a spark set?  Of
course not.  In fact, those guys were brave souls at the cutting edge
of technology.  Think of it:  the cutting edge of technology!
Things have changed folks, lets get on the bandwagon.

1.  Eliminate the code test.
2.  Retain cw sub bands.
3.  Eliminate incentive licensing.
4.  Institute just two license classes.  Entry level or apprentice,
    and full amateur with ALL privileges including the right to
    operate CW on the cw bands (if he learns how).  This is not to
    create an elite crust, but to provide for an easy entry step.
5.  Educate, and maybe test, our new hams in radio operating, ham
    traditions and values, on the air etiquette, radio lore, and
    maybe even the dreaded Order of the Wouff Hong!  Or the Retisnitch.
6.  Lets make each new ham someone we can be proud off, and say,
    "Hey, he is coming right along!"
7.  Lets take over the ARRL from within and make it a society that
    all hams can be proud to belong to.  Let them represent all
    hams, not just the members.  Lets change the system from within.
    Lets get rid of the creators of incentive licensing.

And let us remember, that upon creation of the incentive licensing
program, the Extra Class did not get ONE SINGLE kilocycle of
spectrum space, or one single KC of phone band.  No sir, what they
did is took the existing generals and told them to get out of this
portion of the band while us extras enjoy the new freedom from
associating with the likes of you.

8.  I am not sure yet, haven't made up my mind, but I think that
    this Vanity call sigh program is aptly named.  Vanity.  The
    FCC has always issued call signs in sequential blocks.  Started
    with 1AA in 1922, then W1AA in '27 and now they are up to KD4
    or some such.  And hams dearly love their calls.  Mine is shorter
    than yours because (insert your favorite excuse here).  I am
    starting to think that this vanity call sign is somehow...smelly.
    What if the FCC made ALL ham calls 2 x 3, like WA6MNV, and then
    issued the calls at random.  Maybe you and I take the license test
    same day, I get WA6MNV, you get KD6URL, and a week later the next
    new ham gets WA6AEF.  It would just be the luck of the draw,
    a totally random, non-elitist call sign program, computer generated
    etc.  No one could say, I am better, or have more years in
    service, or have done this on that, and that is why I am AL7X
    and you have the lowly call of WA6VSE or WL7CSG.  This program
    would entail all brand new calls for everyone.  Everyone.  AT
    random.  It would generate an instant protest, I am sure, but
    once done, its a done deal and a whole bunch of squabbling will
    end.

    Just thinking about the above call sign deal, but you can see
    where I am leading to.  A society where all hams are equal, and
    one that is blind to age, years as a ham, or the holder of
    a level of license class that is "better" and has "a better call"
    than that "low life no code over there".

    If you think that is extreme, be assured that in the 1950's the
    W x 3 calls, like W2FCJ started running out (as a novice he would
    have been WN2FCJ).  Anyway, the FCC got to W2ZZZ, and call area
    by call area went to the K calls.  Formerly K calls were overseas
    territories, like K4 for Puerto rice, K7 for Alaska.  The K x 2
    calls like K2GM were mainland us calls, only K x 3 were territories.
    But the FCC freed this block of calls, by assigning KP4, KH6, KL7
    etc to territories, and they started again all over with K2AAA
    until those were done with.  Now, in the late 50's, the W2's
    had prejudice against the K2's.  Remember when Dorothy, K2MGA
    worked or ran CQ magazine.  Big furor.  "She is a K2 not a W2!"
    Already the seeds of elitism had been planted.

    There IS a place for elitism.  You are elite, when your fellow
    hams look UP to you, and admire you, and want to be like you.
    As a teacher, a fine example.  But a short call, an Extra Class
    license, 40 years as a ham, or blind, egotistical pride does
    not automatically make a person "Elite".  That should be a
    status earned by each individual according to his own performance
    in society.  Hiram Percy Maxim W1AW was not "elite" because he
    had a short call, one with the letter after number being A.
    And he was not elite because he was president and founder of
    ARRL, or because he wrote the Rotten QRM and other articles on
    Lids and poor operating practices.  No sir.  He was elite
    because he earned the instant respect of ALL amateurs when he
    was instrumental in getting allocations for ham operators from
    a government (navy) that wanted to keep it to themselves and
    control it, never share, and prohibit hamming.  Now THAT is what
    he did, and he gave us all a wonderful gift, and in 30 years may
    his work still be admired and be fruitful.

    This attitude that "I passed a 13 wpm, or I passed a 20 wpm
    code test, so I am better than you no code low life" has got
    to stop right_now!  There is, after all, an easy answer.  Say
    in my case, I became an extra in 1962 or 63 when the license
    first became available.  The test was all on a.m. phone, cw and
    things like that.  All gear was strictly tubes.  But a new
    ham in 1996 could rightfully say to me, and he would be 100%
    correct in saying "So what Ramón.  20 WPM, gee, that is good,
    but is it relevant?  I just took, and passed a test on
    solid state rigs, VLSI chips, digital techniques, frequency
    synthesizers, narrow band FM, SSTV television and beam antennas."

    So, as far as a TEST goes, who is the better ham?  Me, because
    I took a 20 WPM test and a written on topics like heising
    modulation, rf ammeters, and splatter on a.m. transmitters?
    Or is he the better ham because his test was on the cutting edge
    of the amateur radio art, even if it was no-code.

    So think about this.  In 1962 I took the prescribed test.  It
    was on techniques appropriate to THAT era.  He took his test in
    1996, and his test reflects THIS era, just like the test in
    the year 2046 will have questions totally inconceivable to us
    right now.

    Maybe I am the poorer ham.  After all, an old geezer with
    obsolete knowledge.  Now of course, I could say, but wait!  I
    have followed the radio art.  I repair solid state 2-way
    commercial radios, I am a computer nerd.  I even build
    plug in cards for my computers here (and some even WORK).
    BUT all that is moot, because friends, we are talking about
    tests, not what you know 30 odd years after the test.

    So each of us is a full blown ham, and each one has proved his
    worth by taking the latest version of the ham test at the
    time it was given.  He is a ham.  So am I.  He is proud of it.
    I am proud of mine.  But I am also happy and proud for HIM,
    because instead of whining, complaining, etc., he buckled down
    studied and passed this 1996 test.  So he has proven his
    commitment to the process of becoming a ham.

    And that folks is that counts and what sets hams apart from
    CB'ers who only follow the rule of instant gratification.

    So when we say we must keep the code test, we have one word too
    much in there.  We should keep testing, yes, to prove the
    commitment the individual has to ham radio.  But to say that
    Code, or for that matter a Triode Push Pull R.F. amplifier
    with link coupling and neutralization is somehow better than
    one on a DDS frequency synthesizer is totally ridiculous.  Its
    comparing apples to oranges.  And I pray that in the year 2046
    the test will be appropriate to that age and time, and that my
    great grandchildren will also sweat the test, spending countless
    hours studying and visiting the elmers, and finally get the
    ticket one October morning, and fire up their Franistat
    set, and work Rigel 6 on the first call!  Now we are talking,
    fellows.  Lets drop the narrow view and get this hobby of
    ours off its arse and moving ahead!

Ramon, AL7X.  VE, CW man.  Pro no-code. Anti incentive licensing.
                           Proud of the hobby.  Lets see it move
                           forward.  Respect all modes and facets.