[CW] Shades and shards of 80 CW

[SX-25]

Don, you did work me on Oct. 8, 2007 and I received a very accurate 579 from you. Although I gave you a
599, I assure you it was real. I still remember the QSO...your signal consisting of many DBs from your school house shack; my "lesser DBs" the result of a humble li'l Adventurer. 

However you'll not receive a "59" from me. I stopped using phone 15 years ago.

I wish I could believe that the handing over of the 3600-3750 CW band to the phone guys was purely a magnanimous  act of
doing what was necessary for the "greater good." But I don't believe that. In fact, I believe if it were not for ham radio pimps like one particular Japanese rig manufacturer and a Newington corporation posing as a fraternal organization making snowballs, the Washington blockheads wouldn't be throwing them. And the rest of the sycophants all nod concurrence without realizing that their rush to promote the new give-away licenses are probably orchestrating their own eventual demise. The flashing "NO MORE MORSE CODE" applets on QRZ.COM or in magazine ads illustrate how ready these firms are to liquidate every molecule of the this avocation for immediate profit. As the saying goes, these companies would shoot their own mothers and then take wagers on which way she'll fall. It is important to NOT patronize any of them.

Contest weekends are a washout here. And apparently unlike down there in the Blue Ridge mountains, most evenings on 80 meters here where "winter never sleeps" are too.

Keep 'em glowin' Don...and I will too. Sadly I just communicated with a very experienced cornerstone of ham radio who has dismantled his shack and keeps in practice using the craft he loves, CW, having QSOs with himself on his computer. With the ignoramuses running the show it is not much of a stretch to see how we'll all be doing that one day.

Vern WA9VLK



One more thing. If I work you on CW or phone, rest assured that I will give 
you an  honest signal report.  No "599" or "five-nine" unless you really do 
have a perfectly  readable, "extremely strong" signal.

Don k4kyv