[Fists] calling frequency

[Dan Romanchik KB6NU]

I don't know where you guys are getting your ideas about CW being a  
dying mode.  I rarely have trouble finding CW QSOs. Not only that, I  
find that there's a fair amount of interest in learning it and using  
it. I'm always passing out K7QO Code Course CD-ROMs and helping people  
have fun with CW.

At our Field Day, we ran two CW stations and had a bunch of operators  
keeping the finals warm. My guess is that we ran those stations for at  
least 40 hours of the 48 station-hours, and probably more. And, no, we  
didn't use Big Chief writing tablets. We used computers to do the  
logging. If you want to portray CW as an old fart's mode, what better  
way than to insist on paper logging!

What you guys have to realize is that there's so much more to ham  
radio than CW these days. In fact, ham radio would really be in a  
sorry state if all we did have was CW like back in "the good, old days."

73!

Dan KB6NU
----------------------------------------------------------
CW Geek and MI Affiliated Club Coordinator
Read my ham radio blog at http://www.kb6nu.com
LET'S REALLY MAKE THE ARRL THE NATIONAL ASSOCIATION FOR HAM RADIO


On Aug 18, 2008, at 5:04 PM, Larry wrote:
> The cw mode is in a bad way these days , in fact its a dying art / 
> skill.This year during field day I was the only cw operator, out of  
> a some 25 or 30 hams who showed up.No would even bothered to use a  
> computer reader or other aids. I used an old bencher and a big chief  
> writing tablet as a log.As I looked around the group of young hams  
> ( I am 70), I realized that cw is truly a dying art.It takes time  
> and hard work to learn cw and these young hams have no interest in  
> putting any real work into learning it.Those of us who still use cw  
> should appreciate a cw qso where ever we can find one on the bands  
> and stop arguing amongst ourselves about minor points that really  
> don't matter.The cw mode will be around for a while yet,long enough  
> for me to have fun with it.So, lets have fun with it while
> we can and  stop the bickering about insignificant points.
> K5jyd
> ootc



To which Al, W8FAX replied:
You are right. The whole idea of removing the Morse testing was not  
that it
was an outdated mode, or that it was preventing all the geniuses from
getting a ham ticket, it was the fact that it was just "too hard" and
required some effort to learn. Something few want to invest in these  
days.
Al/W8FAX/2192