[CW] ARRL Board requests policy recommendations to implement WRC-03 results

[Gregory W. Moore]

Agreed 100%.  The ARRL is simply going to go over trodden ground until 
they get a result which "pleases" them.

I don't think it is going to matter how vocal we (CW ops) are, nor how 
many numbers we can rack up.  I believe
they have already decided on their position, and that is simply to go 
along with the international bunch as pertains to
the requirement for morse. 

All the petition papers in the world from "our" viewpoint are not going 
to change their minds in the least.  One only has
to read a few issues of QST, and buy a few copies of the "new improved" 
ARRL Handbook to see where their vision
of the future lies, and that vision definitely doesn't include a strong 
CW base, regardless of all the arguements which can be
brought to bear supporting the need for CW knowlege.  We can bring up 
all the doomsday scenarios we want, but, alas
I feel their minds are made up.

That being said, it leaves us to keep the tradition alive.  Heck, IMHO, 
it doesn't mean squat at this point what the actual requirements for a 
license include, if we pass along the tradition, then there always be 
those who will continue to work CW, and we will be aided with 
organizations like FISTS, etc.  The official position is irrevelant, the 
"unofficial" position is extremely relavent, as long as we have a cadre 
of "Elmers" to pass Morse along to the next generation of hams, and get 
them hooked, well, the rest happens automatically.  5WPM is a terrible 
speed, and I have yet to find anyone who actually enjoys copying 
machine-sent CW at 5.  Most persons will, if left to their own devices, 
perhaps send only 5 WPM, but the character speed is at very least, 
around 10-15WPM.  Pure 5 is lousy to copy, I don't know about others, 
but to me, "perfect" 5 sounds like "E" and "T" sent randomly.... 

    Years ago, when I was going through RM "A" school at Bainbridge MD, 
in the mid-60's, I was already a ham, so I already had some speed. What 
the Navy really helped with was the introduction of the finest in 
transcription devices, the Telegraphers Mill. Once Introduced to this 
wonderful printing device, I never looked back.  Fortunately the 
instructors would allow one to "skip a speed" if you were capable of 
copying the next fastest.  Now, Navy regs are a little different than 
FCC regs as regards the errors allowed. Considering that a lot of tfc in 
that time period was in 5 letter cypher groups, and without divulging 
methods, if you screw up a character you will cause someone a heck of a 
lot of trouble down the pike a little (I can attest to this, as I both 
was the person copying said code groups, and the person "down the pike", 
who had to deal with garbles). The allowable errors were, I believe, 
somewhere in the vicinity of 2 per 100 characters sent for 5 letter 
groups, and 3 with plain language text (which was, usually, news files 
from NSS-- this had the advantage of nobody knowing what was being sent, 
the text would be copied by all, and compared with "perfect" copy from 
an op who could handle the speed--I have had that honor --hi--).  At any 
rate here, I never actually had to copy 5 to advance, just skipped to (I 
forget, I think I went straight to 15, been a lot of years here--hi--) 
and thus never had to face that lousy speed.

Where I am going with this is simple, that since 5 is a horrendous 
speed, most people simply "skip" over actual 5, and fall into a pattern 
of about 10 or so, if one is just beginning. They may send words at 5, 
but the character speed is much faster (and much more intelligible) than 
what "perfect" 5 would be.
73 de Greg WA3IVX/ NNN0BVN

Thomas Beaudry wrote:

>> They're seeking input from the membership so they can act?
>>
>> Why don't I believe this?  ARRL a division of NCI - No Code 
>> International?
>
>
> I had the same thought.  How many surveys do they need?  As many as it 
> takes to get one that agrees with them???
>
> 73,
>

-- 
"All that is necessary for the triumph of evil is that good men do nothing."
                                                   --Edmund Burke

Greg Moore NNN0BVN PA
U.S. Navy-Marine Corps Military Affiliate Radio System (MARS)
Official Pennsylvania Area Website:
http://pages.prodigy.net/nnn0fbk/mars.htm
Official Northeast Area Website: 
http://www.navymars.org/northeast/index.htm
Navy-Marine Corps MARS: Proudly Serving Those Who Serve."
E-Mail (MARS) nnn0bvn@navymars.org
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