[CW] ARRL Survey

[Marshall Emm]

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Steve said--

>>If this is the case, why does the League seem anti CW these days?
 Marketing? Income? <<

All is explained in my article "CW-- the Once and Future Mode," originally
published in 73 and available on-line at
http://www.MorseX.com/articles.htm When I say that all is explained, it is
of course just my opinion.  But the article provides a detailed
explanation of the THREE major forces that aligned against Morse code-- 
shipping, military, and the ARRL.  It all comes down to money and
politics.  

To summarize (and maybe add a bit) the ARRL survives on subscriptions to
QST (which translates directly to memberships).  They saw a decline in
membership (subscription numbers) and decided that the best way to get
more members was to make it easier to get into the hobby.  Morse was seen
as a "barrier to entry" so it had to go.  They had to denigrate CW
operation in order to make their case to the FCC, and a part or practical
effect of this deliberate denigration was to hand over CW spectrum to the
phone operators (the so-called "refarming" of the "no longer needed"
Novice bands.  

Please note that these are my opinions or impressions of what's behind the
ARRL's current attitude and their propensity to ignore the wishes of
members. All of the "issues" have been done to death on this reflector and
others and there's not a whole lot of point in rehashing them.[g]

73
Marshall Emm
N1FN/VK5FN
n1fn at MorseX.com
Morse Express and Oak Hills Research
"Everything for the Morse Enthusiast"
http://www.MorseX.com
http://www.ohr.com
(303)752-3382
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