[CW] future of CW

[Gregory W. Moore]

GA all,

CW was never "outlawed".  What happened, and rather predictably, was 
that when the Military ceased using CW, the same thing happened in 
MARS.  No surprises here.  The rate changed, no more RM's, and the whole 
comm business turned into satcom links and internet.  Hey, I'm a former 
RM, Speed Key Certificate CLF-23, and don't like where this has gone one 
bit, but one service simply followed the lead of another.  With the 
quirky propagation conditions we have been having this year, there have 
been times when CW would have worked when nothing else would, but, one 
lives with the regs.

Spark transmissions are illegal because of the inherent wide (huge) 
bandwidth of the damped wave. Just for a good example here, I believe 
everyone has seen the effects of only one car with a bad spark plug 
lead.  One will hear this on just about any freq imaginable, on the TV 
(any channel) and even in some computer monitors.  Now, the amount of 
radiated power from a bad ignition cable is miniscule compared to any 
spark rig.  I believe that it is rather easy to see why spark is not 
permitted, as it would create widespread, uncontrolled, interference to 
any number of services.

I don't see CW being outlawed on HF, or any other bands for that matter. 
There is nothing "clandestine" about it, any more than there is 
something "clandestine" about say MT-63, or PSK, or RTTY.

Personally, I want to see the requirement for morse kept in the 
licencing process simply to keep the tradition alive, but regardless of 
if it is included, or not, there are still going to be supporters, and 
still going to be those who pass on the tradition to a new generation of 
hams.  Every change that we have had  has always caused loads of 
debate,  but the Amateur Service has always kept going.

This is IMHO, only, but I don't see an "outlawed" CW mode of operation.  
Heck, look at it this way, CW is just slow (by comparison with other 
modes) digital operation. It makes no difference if the transmitting 
station and recieving stations are using organic computers or silicon 
based computers --hi--.

73 es ZUT!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
de Greg Moore WA3IVX / NNN0BVN



Ronald KA4INM Youvan wrote:

>>  I have been enjoying this discussion about the future of CW.
>>  I cannot see why cw would be made an illegal mode like spark 
>
>
>   We can't understand why US MARS outlawed cw when it quit
> using it on it's nets.


-- 
"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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