[KYHAM] Why CW

[Kevin Schneider]

AW, et al.

snip

>  Fortunately,public safety systems have evolved with
> the changing times and technology available today, and
> so must amateur radio. Most amateur emergency
> communication today takes place on VHF, because the
> nation's public safety infrastructure has evolved to
> the point that resources are generally available
> within a reasonable small area to respond to all but a
> catastrophic need.

and the catastrophic need is exactly why amateur radio is allowed to
continue..

I dont know if you have an emergency services background; but I am a
Firefighter/EMT/Hazmat responder and I can say from first hand experience
that  if there  is more than 1 felony police pursuit or more than two
fireground operations in a county the dispatch operations and secondary
channels collapse.  ARES members in my county recently participated in a
disaster drill that demonstrated just how fast it decays if even a few
simulataneous events occur

>
>  Ships at sea no longer require a CW qualified
> radioman, even though they are often thousands of
> miles from the nearest land station

Actually if you check out the link:
    http://wireless.fcc.gov/commoperators/t1.html

you can read that the chief radio operator on any passenger ship must have a
T1 license which includes 25 wpm code as part of the reqmts.   Costal radio
operators (T2)
must pass 20wpm tests.  Apparently when lives are on the line (passengers)
the FCC feels code
is still necessary.