[CW] Wake up all you ARRL Directors and Officers

[n3drk]

The following excerps are taken from an article written by Marshall Emm,
owner of Morse Express. This company provides keys, paddles, keyers, qrp
gear for the amateur and is in a position to know where cw is going and the
failure of the ARRL and FCC to encourage CW. If one wants to read the
article it can be found at

http://www.morsex.com/pubs/cw.htm

The only argument against the CW proposal is that to use the "CW" system the
"hams" would have to learn Morse code, while the "SSB" system requires only
that the "hams" be capable of picking up a microphone and knowing when to
push the button.

In our "unreal world" of amateur radio we have seen a lot of pressure to
abandon the code as a licensing requirement- usually it's sugar coated,
along the lines of "nobody is saying you can't use it, we're just saying you
don't have to learn it." Why? Doesn't take much analysis to come up with the
answer- money and politics. For most of us as individuals, amateur radio is
a hobby. But for far too many "support types" it is an Industry.
Manufacturers and bureaucracies are concerned that the market is
"shrinking." They point to license numbers and say that the amateur
population is declining, and getting older, and something must be done.
Obviously we need to make it easier to become a ham, and about all we can do
apart from giving away licenses is to eliminate the code requirement. But
guess what, boys and girls... we've been there and done that. We got a huge
influx of no-code licensees in the '70s but we didn't maintain their
interest and they are dropping out of the hobby like flies. That is the
shrinkage that the Industry is seeing. The popular wisdom now is that access
to HF will bring them back and keep them in.

The important thing here is that in the three major areas of code use, it is
being actively discouraged for reasons which have absolutely nothing to do
with its usefulness

Using Morse code is a skill, like riding a bicycle, or playing golf. You
have to learn how to do it, and you get better at doing it through practice.
Riding a bicycle is a good analogy, because it seems impossible at first but
eventually something "clicks" and you can do it. Not only can you do it, you
wonder what all the fuss was about. In one respect, however, playing golf is
a better analogy because it is open ended. The more you do it, the better
you get, but you never quite reach perfection

>From time to time I hear speculation that we could face a natural disaster
that wipes out most of what we call "technology," or perhaps a war with an
enemy who has figured out how to use their technology to defeat ours. These
scenarios are often dredged up in an attempt to justify preserving Morse
code, which is seen as being under threat and in need of defense.

In the first place, if there were a sudden need for thousands of Morse
operators, they could be trained very quickly- possibly more quickly than
communication networks could be created for them to use. We went through
that in World War II.

In the second place, Morse code will survive as long as people want to use
it, and there is absolutely no question that it is the mode of choice for an
increasing number of hams. There are many "sub hobbies" within amateur
radio, but the one area which has seen spectacular and sustained growth over
the last few years is QRP (low power operation). Because of the power
advantage (equivalent readability on the order of 18dB greater than SSB), CW
is used in the majority of QRP operations. QRP is inexpensive, it's
environmentally friendly, it's challenging, and it's fun. CW is the mode
that makes it possible, and you don't hear any complaints about Morse being
"too hard." But don't take my word for it, listen around 7.040 most any
evening.

Diehard DXers know that CW will get through when SSB just won't cut it, and
the same is true of the top contesters. Anybody who thinks CW is dying out
should listen to the CW sub-bands during Field Day.

AND LASTLY HE STATES



I'm in a position to know that interest in Morse code (and the machines that
make it useful) has been growing steadily over the last four or five years.
I'm also an active operator, so I know that use of CW on the air is also
increasing. Maybe it's not "high tech." Or maybe, since it is direct digital
input to the brain, it's as high as tech can get. Either way, it's fun, it's
rewarding, and it's going to be around a lot longer than I am.



Send email to EVERY DIVISION DIRECTOR AND VICE DIRECTOR. DONT FORGET MR.JIM
HAYNIE THE PRESIDENT OF THE LEAGUE. AND ALL THE OFFICERS OF THE LEAGUE.



Thank You

n3drk-john