[Fists] ARRL: Hams say "Hello"

[David J. Ring, Jr.]

Thanks to Jeff, Jeff's daughter and Mark for some pithy observations and 
comments.

I did a ham radio exhibit at the local county agricultural fair, and the 
local noise was so bad the only mode we could operate was (drum roll... ) 
Morse Code.

When we operated Morse Code, we had people thick in lines watching, asking 
questions.

When we went to voice modes, no one even stopped by.

What got them was the sound of CW.

73

David N1EA



----- Original Message ----- 
From: "W1EOF" <w1eof at hamnutz.com>
To: <fists at mailman.qth.net>
Sent: Sunday, March 19, 2006 5:35 PM
Subject: RE: [Fists] ARRL: Hams say "Hello"


You make some good points Jeff. I know when I have shown some teenagers ham 
radio they were NOT thrilled with digital modes, DX, or talking. What did
they really like? CW! When I started sending code on my keyer they all
thought that was really neat. It was not enough to cause them to pursue it
however.

My point is that it's not the boogey man, it's not to be feared. It is only
ONE website afterall. It will not appeal to everybody. There are some people
who will come into radio because of the AWA website. Or the FISTS website.
Or some digital mode website.

There are all different reasons people get into ham radio. You are correct
that for most people these days there is no thrill in communicating with
people from "far away lands" as it was in my early day. Actually in my case
the technical aspect of radio was a big draw. I enjoyed learning, building
my own gear, and then using that gear to talk to people.

Fact is it's not THAT hard to get a ham license. Young children have been
passing the exams since the early 70s if not before. There has always been a
portion of ham radio that were "appliance operators". My Dad used to tell me
of guys in the early 1930s who were! That was 75 year ago, long before
incentive licensing or anything else attributed with the demise of radio.
There were "lids" back then too. There were guys who would play music on the 
phone bands.

I've spoken with many, many hams who came in under the no-code license.
After being exposed to the full spectrum of ham radio they turned into great
hams and very very good CW operators. So to me, the additional exposure is
another opportunity to bring some new CW ops along. Or... or we can put them 
down and demean them as a lesser-class of hams. This happens all too often 
unfortunately. I say we welcome them, and do what we can to help them
along... kind of like the elmers who treated me with respect and helped me
along. It worked for me. It can work for them too.

73,

Mark W1EOF