[Elecraft] Slow Code Watering Holes? (OT)

[Mike Morrow]

Ron wrote:

>It's too bad we no longer have the Novice license and bands,
>because it gave everyone a place to congregate while developing
>CW skills.

That's so very true!  

I was a Novice almost 40 years ago.  The Novice bands were congested but magical segments of 80/40/15 meters, with 75 watt limits, crystal-control requirements, and non-renewable licenses.  Almost everyone met there was just getting started, and we were motivated at least by the desire to master 13 wpm for a higher license class, whether or not we ever intended to tap a key again after getting that license.  We were all of us similarly nervous, stressed, and unskilled at each contact, at first anyway.  

After developing a love of Morse operation (to the point of obtaining a commercial radiotelegraph license), I still really enjoyed returning to the Novice bands every once in a while to meet some of the new folks who were just getting into HF ham operation.

The magic of the Novice bands seemed to start failing when higher power and VFO operation were sanctioned and when Novice licenses became renewable.  Ham clubs started teaching Morse reception only, since there was now no test of sending skills.  This resulted in graduates capable of getting the Tech license, but who were scared to death of getting on the HF bands for a Morse QSO.  Novice magic then fell very sharply after the first no-code Tech licenses were issued in the early 1990s.  Death was almost total after the license destructuring of 2000.  That, and cell phones, finally buried the last of the Novice band magic.

I miss the old Novice bands more than *any* other lost aspect of ham-radio yesteryear.

>Maybe I'm just out of date, but the world of Ham radio I was introduced to
>in the 1950's stressed cooperation over competition. I still cringe when I
>see the term "radiosporting" since sports virtually always put competition
>first.

My thoughts exactly.  Contesting (and DXing) have fostered extremely bad habits among many operators.  I've been a radio hobbyist since 1964, but I have never understood the extreme sense of accomplishment that some of these folks seem to develope from an essentially pointless activity.  Even Field Day has been transformed into little more than just another contest, in stark contrast to the intent of the first Field Days of the 1930s.

>Some people seem to practice "contesting" even when there is no contest.
>Their CW skills don't involve being able to do more than complete a
>high-speed exchange of name, RST and QTH followed by "73 dit-dit".

Amen, Brother Ron!

>They remind me that "Novice" operators come in all guises.

That's a bit unfair to the Novice operators I knew!  Most Novices were *not* lids, at least by intention! <g>

73,
Mike / KK5F