[CW] Dissing the ARRL

[John Rippey]

I would like to ask the ARRL bashers what goal is being sought here?

The pro-Morse-code argument on this web site can be reduced to a demand 
that the Federal government continue a Morse testing requirement. In other 
words, some CW ops want a federal bailout, just like many other interest 
groups do, ranging from illegal immigrants to Dakota wheat growers.

Asking Uncle Sam's help implies that CW cannot stand on its own as an 
appealing way to communicate and therefore must be mandated by federal law. 
This may also mean, couldn't it, that CW enthusiasts over the years have 
not bothered to promote the mode and recruit newcomers to it? If there had 
been a conscious, organized, directed recruitment program (ever heard of 
Amway? What has FISTS been doing all these years?), there likely would be 
lots more CW ops today and far less need for the ongoing hand-wringing. The 
alternative argument, of course, is that no amount of vigorous recruitment 
would have been be able to attract newcomers to a dying mode. Since no 
serious recruitment effort was made, either supposition may be correct.

No matter, that horse is out of the barn and I find it unseemly that a 
number of our fellow citizens are looking to Uncle Sam as our savior once 
again to make up for one more private-sector failure.

73,
John, W3ULS