[GreenKeys] Re: NAVY MORSE code and MORSE CODE

[Gregory W. Moore]

GA, all,
Now, I realize that this is a RATT list, as already has been noted by 
several list subscribers, however, since there are two subjects, Morse Code
and Navy Morse Code already running, and given the fact that I happen to 
be, happily, a former RM and Aircrew , as well both a CW AND Greenkey
fanatic, I have to weigh in here.

I really hate to see Morse dropped as a requirement for amateur radio.  
The problem being that any skill set once lost, is usually never regained.
Case in point, which has absolutely nothing to do with amateur radio, 
but with aviation.  After my Navy days, I was ( among other things)  a 
commercial pilot, up until the FAA decided that closed head 
injuries/Post Concussion Syndrome  and aviating just didn't mix 
--hi--...  How many new pilots these days know how to shoot a purely NDB
instrument approach?   Is it still taught? As a matter of fact, how many 
aircraft/helos are fitted with ADF these days?  The number of NDB's gets 
less every passing day.  We have glass cockpits, GPS, which has, I 
believe, even just about supplanted INS.  Even the lowly VORTAC's now 
have voice id instead of the good old morse identifier.

The problem being that this is a skill set that is going to disappear, 
and eventually the VORTAC's are going to disappear, once everyone decides
that both Uncle Sam and the civilian aircraft don't need them any 
more....  LORAN is gone as a primary NAVAID, and like everything that 
becomes
extinct, it is gone forever.  I don't like to see any skill set that may 
become useful once more disappear.  I think you can see the point.  
There are one heck
of a lot of really bad things that can happen when one gets too 
complacent with new technology, and relies too much on new technology (Think
Challenger and Columbia here for a modern example) and any number of 
items if one wishes to look back further.  There are also a lot of really
bad things which can happen to poorly hardened avionics in the event of  
a severe EMP environment, a fact which is as, or more possible now
than in the days of the Cold War, which is when most of us 'ol dinosaurs 
trained.... Fly by wire????  Riiiiiight......it better be hard as heck, 
especially
for civvies, who don't have a convienient way out.  

OK, I am running on here, but point being, we had better not throw old 
technology away just because "everyone" says that we have new, "gee whiz"
technology, because somewhere, sometime, the spectre of complacency is 
going to strike, and strike hard, and we are going to begin, as we always
seem to do, a blame game of ever increasing intensity...

Keep the new technology, improve it and use it, but don't trash the 
old..  We have seen what has happened to all the good ol M28's, etc.... 
when the
EMP hits the fan, someone is going to WANT and NEED those 
machines......and someone is going to wish that we had cars that weren't 
100%
dependent on solid state, as with aircraft... However, I'm just an old 
dinosaur, and this is just my IMHO..

Flame on, gentlemen --hi--

73 de Greg "GW" Moore
WA3IVX/ NNN0BVN


Roy Morgan wrote:

> At 09:02 PM 3/5/2006, Don Robert House wrote:
>
>> ...
>> When I was transferred to the ASCAC on the USS Randolph CVS-15 we had
>> an AN/ARC-97 installed in our space to talk directly to S2F
>> technicians and some of the helo techs that operated dipping SONAR
>> (Not a good assignment.)
>
>
> I was on the Randolph as a Midshipman, and later flew H-3's in that 
> dipping sonar business.
>
> Roy
>
>
>
>> Does everyone out there know why a "Navy" key is designed the way it
>> is?  I suppose so...
>
>
> 1) knob shaped so you can continue to send code even in rough seas or 
> if airborne if in thunderstorm turbulence.
>
> 2) Insulated so you don't get a shock from the transmitter.
>
> Roy
>
>
>
> - Roy Morgan, K1LKY since 1959 - Keep 'em Glowing!
> 7130 Panorama Drive, Derwood MD 20855
> Home: 301-330-8828 Cell 301-928-7794
> Work: Voice: 301-975-3254,  Fax: 301-948-6213
> roy.morgan at nist.gov --
>
> _______________________________________________
> GreenKeys mailing list
> GreenKeys at mailman.qth.net
> http://mailman.qth.net/mailman/listinfo/greenkeys
>
>


-- 

Happily turning electricity into RF energy for almost 40 years,
on land, sea and air, professional and amateur,
around the clock and around the world. KEEP CW ALIVE! 
Become an Elmer today!!! http://www.fists.org/
FISTS #9404

"All that is necessary for the triumph of evil is that good men do nothing."
                                                   --Edmund Burke
Greg Moore NNN0BVN PA
U.S. Navy-Marine Corps Military Affiliate Radio System (MARS)
Official Pennsylvania Area Website:
http://pages.prodigy.net/nnn0fbk/mars.htm
Official Northeast Area Website:
http://www.navymars.org/northeast/index.htm
Navy-Marine Corps MARS: Proudly Serving Those Who Serve."
E-Mail (MARS) nnn0bvn at navymars.org
E-Mail (ARRL) wa3ivx at arrl.net

___________________________________________________________________________

PRESERVATION OFFICER

USS AMERICA (CV/CVA-66) MUSEUM FOUNDATION, INC.

VISIT OUR WEBSITE AT
http://www.ussamerica-museumfoundation.org

SHE MAY BE GONE, BUT SHE WILL NEVER BE FORGOTTEN
HELP US KEEP HER MEMORY, AND THE MEMORIES OF HER LOYAL CREWMEMBERS
ALIVE THRU THE CREATION OF A VIRTUAL MUSEUM.
SIGN OUR GUESTBOOK, VISIT OUR "GEEDUNK" AND MILITARY SUPERSTORE!

USS AMERICA CV/CVA-66  1965-2005  R.I.P
NERK NERK NERK DE NMIB NMIB NMIB SK SK SK