[Elecraft] Dropping the Code Test

[EricJ]

It is my understanding from a communication with WB8RCR, a member of the
Michigan Net, that CW is used because of a geographical anomaly in Upper
Michigan. Because of the high latitude and presence of aurora in Winter, CW
makes a regional net more reliable. It is the only instance I was able to
turn up where emergency services personnel preferred CW over voice.

The NREN you cited is sponsored by the same Michigan Net. Traffic volume is
modest at best.

The fact remains. HF CW is just not necessary or desirable in the vast
majority of emergency communications. The military, including MARS, has
abandoned it. There are no government agencies that I know in the US and
maybe the world, that depend on CW for anything.

That does not mean CW is useless. More and more hams are discovering that it
gets a brief canned exchange across during contests and DXing. But that's a
far cry from handling traffic from a flooded New Orleans or ground zero at
the WTC. Things have changed, yet we promote the same myth that CW can save
the day. Apparently, those who do this kind of work day after day, don't
agree with you.

Eric
KE6US
www.ke6us.com

-----Original Message-----
From: Chuck Mabbott [mailto:crmabbott at comcast.net] 
Sent: Monday, September 05, 2005 7:10 AM
To: Vic K2VCO; EricJ
Cc: elecraft at mailman.qth.net
Subject: Re: [Elecraft] Dropping the Code Test

Check out the following nets  http://www.aa8vs.org/nren  both CW and Winlink

http://www.qsl.net/w8ihx  CW net been running since '35.  The nets are
running and traffic is being passed and ops are standing by to assist  7.050
and 14.050 Just need to get the word out.....


----- Original Message -----
From: "Vic K2VCO" <vic at rakefet.com>
To: "EricJ" <eric_csuf at hotmail.com>
Cc: <elecraft at mailman.qth.net>
Sent: Monday, September 05, 2005 1:23 AM
Subject: Re: [Elecraft] Dropping the Code Test


> EricJ wrote:
>> Despite this oft repeated myth, CW is RARELY ever used in emergency
>> communications.
>
> ...these days.  It certainly was in the past.
>
>> Otherwise, no one there could come
>> up with a single emergency services group using CW ops for any purpose.
>
> ...because it's hard to find competent operators.
>
>>  I would be
>> willing to bet during the worst moments of the current crisis in the Gulf
>> states that nobody was heard to utter the words, "If only we could get 
>> some
>> CW ops in there with battery power rigs." It just doesn't happen.
>
> I've heard over and over in news reports that 'there's no communications',

> people can't find out if their relatives and friends are OK, etc.  This is

> EXACTLY the kind of situation in which CW operators with battery powered 
> rigs would excel.
>
>> Consider that amateur radio emergency services must interface
>> with other services whose operators don't use CW and you can see it just
>> isn't very useful for emergency communications in the real world.
>
> Health and welfare traffic can be independent of other services.  And why 
> can't the interface consist of a ham handing a piece of paper to his 
> other-service counterpart?
>
> Having handled traffic by CW in the dark ages (somewhere I have a BPL 
> medallion) I can tell you that phone cannot come close to the efficiency 
> or accuracy of CW in handling formal traffic.  And there is, or should be,

> a structure that already exists for them to fit into -- the ARRL NTS --  
> which would provide connections to these operators.  Frequencies, 
> schedules, liasons, all should exist.
>
> The problem is not that CW wouldn't be useful, it's that there aren't 
> enough competent CW operators who know how to handle traffic.  And many of

> the ones that do are age 60+.  Most of these guys aren't up to being 
> helicoptered in to stricken areas.
>
> -- 
> 73,
> Vic, K2VCO
> Fresno CA
> http://www.qsl.net/k2vco
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