[Elecraft] CW in Emergencies?

[Jim Brown]

As an old traffic hound (does anyone remember ROOA?) nearly 50 
years ago, I regularly worked and ran CW traffic nets, and made 
BPL (500 messages/month, not originations) at least a half dozen 
times. What we call traffic nets today are a bad joke compared to 
those nets. Today, hams are simply poorly trained (even untrained) 
to handle traffic, because real traffic nets are few and far 
between. Not surprising -- there's rarely a use for them in 
today's world until something big happens. 

In those days, when something big happened, hams were prepared, 
because we had the ongoing training and discipline of REAL traffic 
nets. Today, that is simply not the case. How many on this list 
know, off the top of their head, the proper format for a piece of 
traffic? How many have even HANDLED a piece of traffic in proper 
format (or heard it being handled)?  

I find the assertion that SSB is easier copy in the presence of 
aurora hard to believe. I've worked AU on 6 meters since 1958, and 
I can tell you that CW works FAR FAR better than SSB under those 
conditions. Any decent CW op can make pretty good copy of a 
heavily distorted AU signal that's reasonably above the noise. 

The reality is that a marginal antenna and low power has a far 
better chance of solid communications using CW with a good op than 
an equally good op on SSB. The difference is operator training, 
not technology. 

But consider this -- I've worked only a bit of PSK31, but it seems 
to me that it has much of the advantage of CW for communications 
with low power and/or marginal antennas. A PSK31 rig is VERY easy 
to put together in an emergency package -- all it takes is a 
radio, an antenna, a laptop, Simon Brown's excellent free PSK31 
software, and a pair of interface cables that anyone can make with 
cables they buy at Radio Shack and modify to fit their rigs. 

Such a rig would use minimal battery power, because traffic could 
be transmitted in short bursts, and uses standard components. All 
you need to stay on the air for a long time is a means of 
recharging your batteries. It also doesn't depend on repeaters, 
which could be down when they are most needed. Each station in an 
emergency area could simply work directly to one or more assigned 
partners outside the affected area, and that partner dumps the 
traffic onto conventional channels (the internet, etc.). 

Jim Brown  K9YC  (ex-W9NEC, W8FNI)