[GreenKeys] Lost Talent and CW

[Dave Mayfield]

A service to those in need, may times I have helped with my radios and 
skills during times of emergency. If it were not for Hams helping out 
there would be no ham radio. In case you were not aware of it, our 
frequencys are very valuable and there are many out there that would 
gladly take/buy it. If Ham radio continues on it's current path of 
dumbing down and letting anyone in with a simple written test it is doomed.

CW may be old and out of date, I have no love for it. But I think I am 
smart enough to see the importance of learning it. When conditions are 
bad CW will unlike any other mode get through. Not to mention if times 
were ever bad enough again like WWII a guy like me with fair to good 
radio skills can make a CW transmitter with very little parts. To me 
these are some of the skills that a Ham should have.

When I was kid back in the 60's I thought Hams very guys that could 
build and fix there own radios. Then in the 80's when I got my ticket. 
after much hard work learning the code. I was very unhappy to find that 
most hams did not even own a soldering iron. Most guys today are 
appliance operators and would no more take a cover off their radio and 
fix or adjust anything than they would grow wings and fly. Send me hate 
mail if you wish, but these guys are poor examples of hams.

73 de W9WRL

Larry Goodrich wrote:

>Society in general..Larry W9HTK since 1954
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>At 10:03 PM 3/7/06 -0500, Paul Anderson wrote:
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>>On 3/7/06, Dave Mayfield <rtty at gwltd.com> wrote:
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>>>I learned long ago that Ham radio is not a hobby, it's a service.
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>>A service to whom?
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>>--
>>Paul Anderson
>>VE3HOP
>>wackyvorlon at gmail.com
>>http://www.oldschoolhacker.com
>>"Lex Dicavit"
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