[CW] Leave no ham behind

Wed Jul 27 23:45:37 EDT 2005

Damn, Dave, I've never been compared to a murderer before.

My respect for you just took a major hit.

Hans

> [Original Message]
> From: David J. Ring, Jr. <n1ea at arrl.net>
> To: <k-zero-hb at earthlink.net>; <CW at mailman.qth.net>
> Date: 7/28/2005 3:35:30 AM
> Subject: Re: [CW] Leave no ham behind
>
> I wonder who was the author of such trash.
>
> Hans, I know you've been an advocate of "No Code" for a while - and
you're a 
> talented CW operator.  You are entitled to your opinion, but where does
this 
> come from?  Is it yours?  If it is it is putrid.
>
> I know of no CW operator who would act so, although there probably is one 
> who would shame me and my kind, just as Radio Officer Rodgers shamed me
and 
> my kind for many years after he set the fire on the "Morrow Castle" and
let 
> it burn as he looked like the hero sending an SOS in a radio shack where
he 
> had to lift his feet to avoid being burnt.  Eventually he was found out 
> after a few more arsons and murders.
>
> The "hero" later becomes the "scoundrel" and murderer of those that died
on 
> that ship.
>
> Who is author of this fiction - or is the author someone who prefers to 
> hide, just as R/O Rodgers hid for many years?
>
> Best Wishes,
>
> David J. Ring, Jr., N1EA
>
>
> ----- Original Message ----- 
> From: "K0HB " <k-zero-hb at earthlink.net>
> To: "CW Reflector" <cw at mailman.qth.net>
> Sent: Wednesday, July 27, 2005 9:33 PM
> Subject: RE: [CW] Leave no ham behind
>
>
>
>
>           --   THE LAST AMATEUR RADIO OPERATOR   -- 
>
>
>      It was a warm sunny day, with just a slight breeze.  Joe
> squinted at the top of his tower, admiring the five-element 20
> meter monobander he had built the previous winter.  It was an
> imposing sight, yet had never been used.
>
>      Yes, never been used, because you see, Joe was the last ham.
>
>      Joe never intended to be the last ham, but it worked out
> that way.  He thought back to how it had all started in the 80's
> when the FCC created the no-code Tech license.  Joe considered
> that action the biggest blunder any government agency had ever
> perpetrated on the citizens of the United States of America.
>
>      "Just think of it," Joe had remarked, "an amateur radio
> license with no Morse code requirements!  It will mean ruin for
> us all!"  Joe ignored the fact that the no-code license brought
> new blood into the hobby after the amateur ranks had been
> shrinking for many years.  He refused to notice that after the
> FCC created this new license category, the number of active hams
> increased at a dizzying rate.
>
>      Joe hated no-code hams.  He wouldn't accept the no-code
> license as just another way of entering Amateur ranks, and
> refused to acknowledge that many no-coders upgrade to higher-
> class licenses.  No explanation was good enough for Joe.
>
>      Joe and some like-minded cronies hung out on the local
> repeater, where they expounded at length their belief that the
> new hams are somehow less than human.  They even suggested that
> the way to clean up the ham bands was to get rid of all 2-by-3
> calls.  They joked that everyone ought to own a no-code Tech.
> When new operators dared talk to Joe or his buddies, they found
> themselves humbled, scolded, and scorned.
>
>      In his zeal to control "his" airwaves, Joe monitored the
> local repeater with a stop-watch, to make sure interlopers
> "ID'ed" on time.  If they went a little over, he gave them a
> tongue-lashing.  He even harassed them when they operated
> perfectly, just to make sure they knew they weren't welcome.
>
>      Of course, Joe never gave his callsign when he did this.  He
> regarded himself not as a jammer, but as a radio cop -- keeping
> the ham bands pure.  Soon others joined Joe's cause.  After all,
> "The new no-coders made two meters sound like CB!"
>
>      Slowly at first, then at a faster and faster rate, newcomers
> dropped out of the local clubs, then off the air completely.  Joe
> was ecstatic.  It was working; he was saving the airwaves.
>
>      The number of active hams dropped to far fewer than when he
> started.  He figured only the "real hams" were left, so he didn't
> mind when the Callbook shrunk to the size of a comic book.  But
> with so few hams, the political power of Amateur Radio
> diminished.  Soon ham spectrum shrunk, too.
>
>      That didn't bother Joe; he cared only about 2 and 20 meters.
> He thought it was funny when the FCC auctioned many VHF and UHF
> bands, "those no-coder hangouts," to commercial interests.
>
>      Finally, citing "no further need for an Amateur
> license category," the FCC stopped issuing new licenses.  Before
> long, Joe and his buddies were the only hams left.  But that was
> fine.  After all, they all got their licenses back when hams took
> tests at FCC offices, and not at one of those VEC jokes that
> allowed an applicant to take a test here or there.
>
>      Joe and his cronies spent long hours ragchewing on 20,
> bragging about how good things were.  Occasionally they paused,
> but only to note when one of their clan became a "silent key."
>
>      Then, one day, Joe called CQ on twenty meters and got no
> reply.  He tried again the next day with the same result.  He
> kept trying for a week, but no one ever came back to him.
> Finally, he called one of his friends on the twisted pair, to set
> up a contact.  But, an elderly-sounding lady informed him
> that his friend was no longer among the living.
>
>      Joe paged through his old, dog-eared Callbook.  But he
> couldn't find a single listing of anyone he had worked recently.
> That's when he realized he was the only one left.
>
>      Joe had just started back toward the house when he suddenly
> tired.  He at down to rest on the grass.  He felt a squeezing
> pain in his chest, and his left arm ached.  He lay back.
>
>      His antenna, and clouds drifting by above it, were the last
> things he saw.  But Joe and his like-minded friends had lived
> long enough to accomplish their goal;
>
>                 THEY HAD CLEANED UP THE AIRWAVES!
>
>
>
>
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