[CW] CW and Dancing Radio Stations

[David J. Ring, Jr.]

George,

I think we're close on our feelings about CW, but perhaps I go a bit
further.  I have an excellent track record at some of my predictions, and I
still believe that without CW, someone in Washington will soon realize that
there is no real reason to have "operators" for radio, and thus no reason
for "ham" operators.  If there was no CW proficiency, if I were a
politician, I would quickly see that ham radio has no use.  I would probably
get rid of it, or make it pay its way with high user fees.  It would become
even more of a "rich man's" hobby as it was in the early days - if it
existed at all.  Ham radio without CW has about ZERO usefullness to our
nation.  We are much better served by professional people who use radios.

We have no need for radio operators - because "anyone" can do it.

Now, if we STILL had hams who "upgraded" and became radar techs, AM/FM/TV
techs, radio officers, telegraphists, and point-to-point technicians, I
would say we needed ham radio.  But we have none of those jobs left.  Nor do
we have the requirement of a commercial license for those jobs.  The jobs
aren't special, because "anyone" can do them.

If I were a youngster, and I became a ham because it looked interesting, I
probably would quickly loose interest.  SSB, my cellphone is better.
Slow-Scan TV, nice but I can send pictures over the internet.  DX that's
interesting, but what's the point?  --- I can get everywhere on the
internet.  CW, too much work translating the dots and dashes to letters.  (I
hear some people doing it faster, but they must be using computers... :-)

Some of the newcomers say it's "boring" and the others are offended by the
self-centeredness of the hobby - the bragging about equipment, and the "I'm
bigger" than you are, of the hobby.

Was it always this way?  If so what is the same, and what is different?

Personalities?  If my first experience was 2 meter FM, I probably would
never turn my 2 meter rig on again.  Fortunately I grew up with 2 meter AM
and then FM - and I gave up FM for about 30 years because the personalities
were so self-centered, non-helpful. Many hams have had this experience - not
just the new hams.

HF SSB - in my early days, the "big boys" didn't want to talk to you unless
you had a BIG signal.  Many of the others had nothing to say, so it was a
waste of time.

RTTY - that was enjoyable.  I liked the whirring of the machines and the
clattering of the typebars as they struck paper.  I bought a small scope at
a auction and hooked it to my homebrew terminal unit and started copying
W1AW broadcasts, and later got a varicap and got it adjusted correctly so
that I could put out frequency-shift-keying on my transmitter.  But this
soon lost its appeal also - there are only so many times you can say "hello,
rig here is and goodbye".

But on CW there were beautiful sendings going on!  This was an art.  I
didn't hear much of the "I'm bigger than you are" on this mode, I didn't
hear the self-centeredness.  What I did hear was a lot of code practice!  I
was a Novice, and if I didn't get up to 13 wpm in a year, I would have no
license!  When I did upgrade, I still didn't hear the stuff that I was now
hearing on SSB.  I had a "bigger" signal on CW.  So more people could copy
me.

When the CW operators went up to SSB, they really had a grip on THAT mode,
too.  There was something about a CW operator that (do I dare say it?) was
... ... better than the guys up on green keys (rtty) or SSB.  Not all of
them, there were the gifted in the other modes, the guy who was an announcer
on AM radio whose voice was beautiful, or the guy who used to be a UPI
teletype operator who could "loop" the paper tape as he prepared his
transmission.  These guys ALSO knew the "tricks of the trade".  But the CW
operators that I met - many of them - were just incredable operators.  They
made a radio station dance.

We certainly need knowledgeable people, but I think we also need people who
can make a radio station dance.

73

David Ring, N1EA