[Elecraft] New Contest Transceiver [OT]

[Shaun Oliver]

you know, once you remove the requirement for someone to do something in 
order to gain a qualification or a certificate of proficiency, or the 
like, there's more insentive to go learn it for the fun of it. if you're 
required to do the thing, then it's alot less enjoyable.


On 19/03/2008 10:35 PM, the old scribe known as David Ferrington, M0XDF 
was able to impart this pearl of wisdom:
> 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