[CW] Why I like CW

[Tony Martin W4FOA]

Jan,
This of course is my personal opinion and as unscientific as it can be, but
I think except in certain "medical" situations, anyone can learn CW.  Most
of the people who profess not being able to learn it are simply not
interested in learning it, unmotivated, in need of the helping hand of an
"elmer" or just downright lazy.

I won't bore you with my complete story but I learned CW with a "key on
board" setup that a friend loaned me.  I had no oscillator at all and simply
made the sounds with my mouth as I "sent" / practiced on this KOB.  The very
first CW I ever KNEW that I copied for sure was on my folks old Philco radio
that had the SW bands on it....it was V V V   V V V   V V V   NSS  NSS  NSS
W W W (repeated over and over).  That was of course without a BFO so it was
just thumps in the speaker, hi.  Oh for the good ole days.

73 and God Bless ...and  God Bless America
Tony, W4FOA


----- Original Message -----
From: "Jan" <n0aaa@n0rxd.ampr.org>
To: <w4foa@comcast.net>
Sent: Tuesday, September 30, 2003 7:40 AM
Subject: Re: [CW] Why I like CW


> OpOxI finally responded to most of the pending CW petitions before the
FCC.
> Before I did, however, I made the mistake of sampling some of the comments
> from those who were supporting the petitions to eliminate the CW
requirement.
> I, of course, think basic knowledge of CW is as basic to the hobby as
basic
> knowledge of electronics and operating procedure, but everyone here,
would,
> also. I was amazed at the number (of the few I sampled) who said that they
> could not learn code....period. At 5 wpm I passed the novice test after
> half an hour with an encyclopedia (I don't believe I'd ever heard it on
the
> air at the time) and counted the dits and dots. Not the best way to learn,
> but at that speed, just about any way will do. How could anyone who can
read
> and write not be able to learn 5 wpm? (and why would they admit it in
public?).
>   Keep pounding, drk. 73 Jan N0AAA
>
>