[CW] Amazing Story about Morse Op

[Benny Owens]

I WAS A VE FOR A GENERAL CLASS 13 WPM EXAM BACK IN THE DAY.   ONE
APPLICANT WAS WHEEL CHAIR BOUND AND COULD NOT MOVE ANY PART OF HIS
BODY BELOW HIS NECK.   AFTER DISCUSSION WITH HIM HE WANTED TO TRY
DOING THE TEST AND HE WOULD YELL OUT THE LETTER OR NUMBER IN BETWEEN
THE CW.   THE VE TEAM WAS WRITING DOWN WHAT HE YELLED OUT AS THE CODE
TEST PROGRESSED.   IT WAS HARD TO WRITE WITH YOUR JAW ON THE TABLE.
HE ALMOST ACED THE TEST AND PASSED ON SOLID COPY FOR ONE MINUTE.
TRULY AMAZING.

73
BENNY K5KV

On Sun, Dec 17, 2017 at 1:42 PM, Bill Cromwell <wrcromwell at gmail.com> wrote:
> Hi Dave,
>
> Where there is a will there is a way. A number of years ago I got into a CW
> QSO on forty meters with a fellow in Pennsylvania. It was a real live
> "rag-chew". About forty five minutes into the QSO he casually mentioned that
> he is totally deaf! Then he described the device he uses and how he made it
> from a salvaged speaker cone. He 'felt' the morse with a fingertip. We were
> probably sailing along near 20 WPM.
>
> He was not as severely disabled as the fellow you described but at the time
> so many wannabe hams were whining about not being able to hear the tones
> very well. That didn't stop either of these guys:)
>
> 73,
>
> Bill  KU8H
>
>
> On 12/17/2017 02:25 PM, D.J.J. Ring, Jr. wrote:
>>
>> Hijacked shamelessly from FISTSCW @ yahoogroups reflector
>>
>> Sorry to hi-jack this subject a bit but it reminded me of a member of
>> our local club who was taught by our members to pass the (then) RAE.
>> He was severely disabled including being profoundly deaf and unable to
>> speak. It was discovered that he could discern vibrations via bone
>> conduction, he learnt morse code and communicated using that. He had a
>> computer which translated the morse which he sent with an iambic
>> paddle for those who did not copy morse. His name was Mark Brownfield
>> and his callsign was G0EMZ. He was wheelchair bound and unfortunately
>> he died very young. I have the obituary from the local newspaper which
>> tells much of his story. I also have an excellent photograph of Mark
>> operating his paddle.  Mark used a Ten-Tec Century to a KW trapped
>> dipole plus a vertical for 10 metres with radials all assembled by
>> West Kent ARS - he lived in the local Cheshire Home. He was a member
>> of WKARS, RSGB and RAIBC. He studied for the RAE  using morse code
>> only. He sat and passed both parts of the exam at the first attempt
>> also using morse code, possibly the only person ever do that. I worked
>> him on numerous occasions on the WKARS CW net which was a regular
>> Sunday morning activity on 10 metres. Although severely physically
>> disabled there was nothing wrong with his brain and he was able to
>> fully participate in the nets.
>>
>> 73 de Dave G4OTV
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>
> --
> bark less - wag more
>
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