[Elecraft] New Contest Transceiver [OT]

[David Ferrington, M0XDF]

Is this actually true? I'm not clear on what happened in the US with  
no longer requiring a Morse cert. and would like someone to set me  
straight (I really mean that, I'd like to understand the real story).

My understanding is:
1) the requirement for a morse cert was removed from the license
2) this allows you to get a license and operate without morse
3) the FCC did not 'throw away Morse', just removed the requirement to  
have it

In the UK, this same action in 2003 has resulted in more newcomers  
(since Morse is no longer an obstacle) and in fact, more people  
wishing to learn Morse (myself included) since on using HF, it becomes  
clear just how significant CW is to making contacts, especially DX.  
So, by no longer forcing people to learn Morse, we have encouraged  
more to do so.

In my limited experience, courtesy not slowing slipping away, lack of  
it is in the minority. And mostly the usage of that term is used when  
describing large contests where band plans get ignored. I don't wish  
to get into the Contest verses DX type issues. There does seem to be a  
concern that SSB contests wipe out the CW parts of the band during the  
contest.
I would have thought that applied far more here than in the US where  
my understanding is the band plan is mandator - in the UK is advisory  
(provided you stick within the spectrum allocation).

Contests are on the rise yes, but I don't think that can be blamed on  
the removal of the Morse requirement - surly if anything, this  
indicates a greater usage of CW (assuming we are talking CWE contests).
In fact, are contests on the increase or is it just poor DX conditions  
making it appear that way?

On the question of where to go to use Morse, what about the freq. used  
by FIST members. Just because they are used by FISTS, does not prevent  
anyone from using them (no-one owns a freq.) and if you hear someone  
calling CQ FISTS, work them. FISTS members are happy to work anyone  
and are not exclusively FISTS - and if you find someone is, then they  
should not be a member of FISTS, IMHO.

There freq. are found at http://www.fists.co.uk/index_files/FREQS.htm

73 de M0XDF / FISTS #12575, K3 #174, HexKey #375
-- 
One can pay back the loan of gold, but one dies forever in debt to those
who are kind. -Malayan Proverb

On 19 Mar 2008, at 11:05, Charlotte & Bob Higgins wrote:

>> Since the FCC decided to throw away Morse code, courtesy has all  
>> but disappeared, and contests have almost totally taken over.   
>> There is little places to go and have a CW QSO anymore.  Most of  
>> the CW ops nowadays seem to be contesters so you either join them  
>> or stay off the air.  There seems to be no place to go anymore on HF.
>
> WARC bands?