[MRCA] Mil radios on CW

[w8au at sssnet.com]

At 04:17 PM 6/16/2007, Rob Flory wrote:
>Hooray for Perry and his crew at LST-325 for putting in some effort 
>on CW during the Museum Ships Radio Weekend, UNLIKE MOST OF THE 
>OTHERS WHO ONLY/MOSTLY RAN MODERN  HAM STUFF ON SSB.   AAAAAAAARGH!
>
>Rob "over the hill" Flory

Rob.... you are aided and abetted by the USS Massachusetts curator, 
Chris, who does not permit any modern equipment to be used on "Big 
Mamie."  He has a fully intact ship (including all radio gear) of WW2 
vintage and keeps all operations authentic to the time period.  This 
means NO SSB.  This, of course, limits contact totals.

I give him credit for that.  You and he are "reenactors" in the 
fullest sense.  Long live Big Mamie....long live 1941-1945 in the 
minds of our citizenry...

Other ships may perpetuate newer time periods. (USS J P Kennedy / 
late 1960's)  (USS New Jersey, USS Wisconsin and USS Missouri - 1980s 
after recommissioning) These used extensive
RTTY and SSB.

Obviously all ships are not on an "even playing field." Unless the 
sponsoring group
introduces "handicaps" (as in Golf?) the Top Station awards will go 
to the newer ships.
And that's OK.  Perhaps personal satisfaction and accomplishment is 
our reward.  Everyone
wins with these criteria.

As for USS Mass, think of it this way, Rob.  If one is collecting 
memorial ship QSLs and wants one of the "rare" N1EPL (NEPL) cards, 
they will use the mode and freq used by N1EPL, similar to DXers 
chasing a rare country.  AM ops may have an advantage here....and "no 
coders" may have to learn 5 wpm to do this. :-)  Seems like a good idea to me!

73,
Perry    w8au