[CW] Dissing the ARRL

[George, W5YR]

Same here, David, except that my years at MIT weren't devoted to learning
amateur radio code and theory!  <:}

But, your premise of steady practice and determination is on the mark.
Actually, I spent a year being self-taught to reach 13 wpm and pass the
Class B 13 wpm and theory. I still have the Johnson Speed-X key I used to
key my audio oscillator and learnt the sound and rhythm of the characters.
That was 1945. I used the key for SKN last New Year's Eve . . .

BTW, I learned my first code letters around age 9 by listening to NSS on the
big 1935 Zenith in the living room. Still have that radio, too!

Then along comes my second son, who in 1976 decides that CB is for the birds
and wants to be a ham. He asks me to give him "the code" so he could look it
over. So I printed out the phrases I had used for each character when I
taught code for the Air Force in the early 50's. The next night he asked me
to send some so that he could hear them. Darned kid could recognize all 26
letters, 10 numerals and two punctuation marks! He started listening to code
on my station receiver. A week later I gave him his Novice test and he
passed with 100% copy at 7 wpm (I was on the high side to be safe). Parents
could do that back then, but it was outlawed later.

All this astounded me since it had taken me so long to do it by myself. But,
when the Novice ticket arrived he got on the air with my rig and away he
went.

Long story short: 7 months after starting out at age 13 he had an Extra
class ticket, all except the Novice before the FCC, and I had to buy him the
two-meter rig that I had promised when he got an Extra.

In my case, W1AW being there daily was magic for me and my only source of
good machine-sent code for practice. I have always supported ARRL when I
could afford the entrance fee. They are far from perfect, but they are what
we have to represent us.

This got too long - sorry - but I think that ARRL is on our side and
deserves our ongoing support.

73, George W5YR
w5yr@att.net


----- Original Message ----- 
From: "David J. Ring, Jr." <n1ea@arrl.net>
To: "Gene Buckle" <geneb@deltasoft.com>; <cw@mailman.qth.net>
Sent: Wednesday, January 07, 2004 4:56 PM
Subject: Re: [CW] Dissing the ARRL


> Wow!  A month?
>
> You're doing very well.  It took me about 13 weeks of practice and a hour
> and a half class at Mass. Institute of Technology when I learned the code.
>
> To pass the novice license, I took that 13 week class - weekly 1-1/2 hours
> of code, and 1-1/2 hours of theory.
>
> Then I took the General class - which was another class the same length -
13
> weeks and two  periods of 1-1/2 hours for code, and 1-1/2 hours of theory
a
> night.
>
> PLUS there was homework.  We had to compute series and parallel resistors,
> computing voltage drop across each component, transformer power and
current
> radios, calculating 3db drop off points of a specified frequency for
bypass
> capacitors in audio circuits, and so forth.  (I don't remember them all -
> it's been almost 40 years.)
>
> We had about 30 or 40 questions do do a week - some of them simple, some
> difficult.
>
> Later we had to computer real and apparent power in AC circuits, and
compute
> complex impedances using the negative square root of -1.
>
> We also learned how to change from polar to rectangular coordinates to
> compute the complex relationships in L/C/R networks.  We also had to do
> problems with time constants (RC and RL time constants.)
>
> I practiced code for one or two hours a day, and theory for a bit more.
>
> This work was rewarded because I passed my examinations the first time,
and
> I knew I did well.
>
> But that usually happens when I prepare myself.
>
> I would leave a receiver on NSS and copy their code at about 20 wpm - I
> didn't get much (or anything!) at first, but then I started picking up
> groups that I recognized.  I wrote down the dots and dashes (???!!!???)
and
> realized that it was "THE" and from then on, I could copy this word.
>
> I kept doing this work throughout my ham radio life!
>
> 73
>
> David Ring, N1EA
>
> ----- Original Message -----
> From: "Gene Buckle" <geneb@deltasoft.com>
> To: <cw@mailman.qth.net>
> Sent: Wednesday, January 07, 2004 5:13 PM
> Subject: Re: [CW] Dissing the ARRL
>
>
> > > the MAIN reason, that being the very fact that CW is no longer
required
> to
> > > get a ham license..(after all, 5 WPM requires practically no skill).
> The
> >
> > This really annoys me.  I busted my ass for a month and still barely
> > squeaked by on the 5 WPM code test.  To _you_ it requires practically no
> > skill.  To _me_ it's a struggle every time I turn on the radio.  Don't
> > assume that what comes easy to you is easy for others.  Even after all
the
> > work I put into passing my General, I'm still for mandatory code
testing.
> >
> > I joined FISTS shortly (within _days_) of getting my new privs and I
think
> > it's a great organization.  (The gears of their Code Buddy program could
> > use some oil, but I digress. *grin*)  I'm up for just about anything
that
> > will promote the use of CW.  Belittling people, even as a side effect of
a
> > broad statement doesn't help at all.
> >
> > g.
> >
> > 73 de kc7afe
> >
> > --
> > Proud owner of 80-0007.
> > http://www.f15sim.com - The only one of its kind.
> >
> > _______________________________________________
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>
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