[CW] Amazing Story about Morse Op

Sun Dec 17 20:45:18 EST 2017

My sister in law works with handicapped in a hospital setting, and had a young patient who was completely unable to move any limb except one finger, and they asked me if I had any ideas.  I told them to teach her cw enough so that she could blink responses, and it worked, and was eventually able to also use a key.  My sister in law then became almost totally handicapped from a nerve disease, and had to work her way back to walking and moving around, so that she now is able to work again, but I lost track of the patient she had been treating, up to that point. 

N7DC at ARRL.NET
Ex WN5QMX,WA5UKR,ET2US,ET3USA,SV0WPP,VS6DD,N7DC/YV5/G5CTB
QSL Bureau, DIRECT, LOTW Preferred, eQSL used but upload at a courtesy only, as do not use the system for awards.

> On December 17, 2017 at 8:38 PM Benny Owens <k5kvm5 at gmail.com> wrote:
> 
> 
> 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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> >> =30=
> >>
> >
> > --
> > bark less - wag more
> >
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> =30=