[Milsurplus] 20 Years into the Future

[David Stinson]

"All good things must come to an end."
  I will mourn, but then start looking for other reasons
to preserve these sets.  I say again that we need to get
serious about integrating our hobby with that of mil-vehicles
and reenactors.  They will remain at some substantial level;
people still reenact the 100 Years War, for instance.

Morse is dead; the body is not yet quiet nor 
has it grown cold, but it is most certainly dead.
One by one, those who know it will pass and the 
world will cease caring long before (it already has).
Everything is dust in the end.  

How can we make a rig that was once CW only
relevant?  Shall we FSK them and send ASCII?
What hook can we use, what "Borg Implant" can 
put in a BC-148 that will give someone 30 years 
hence a reason to fire it up, to remember what it did?  
How much of the original intent and design can be
sacrificed in order to preserve at least some of the
historic value of the rigs?
Or shall we delude ourselves
into thinking that every 2-bit museum in the world
is going to preserve and display the thousands of
these radios we who know the code will leave behind us?
How many sets of semiphore flags do you see displayed
at any local rally of any kind, and how many do you
know who know the way to use them?
I can't name one.  And Morse Code is going to go
the same way and just as fast.
No- unless we make a fundimental change in our 
thinking, these sets are destined to be thrown in the dump
as soon as the next couple of generations pass.
I don't know what to do; I'm no genius.
There are some geniuses on these lists.
Think about it.
D.S.