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1994-11-13
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Date: Mon, 22 Aug 94 04:30:21 PDT
From: Ham-Policy Mailing List and Newsgroup <ham-policy@ucsd.edu>
Errors-To: Ham-Policy-Errors@UCSD.Edu
Reply-To: Ham-Policy@UCSD.Edu
Precedence: Bulk
Subject: Ham-Policy Digest V94 #386
To: Ham-Policy
Ham-Policy Digest Mon, 22 Aug 94 Volume 94 : Issue 386
Today's Topics:
CW ...IS NOW!
Send Replies or notes for publication to: <Ham-Policy@UCSD.Edu>
Send subscription requests to: <Ham-Policy-REQUEST@UCSD.Edu>
Problems you can't solve otherwise to brian@ucsd.edu.
Archives of past issues of the Ham-Policy Digest are available
(by FTP only) from UCSD.Edu in directory "mailarchives/ham-policy".
We trust that readers are intelligent enough to realize that all text
herein consists of personal comments and does not represent the official
policies or positions of any party. Your mileage may vary. So there.
----------------------------------------------------------------------
Date: Mon, 22 Aug 1994 04:33:00 EST
From: agate!howland.reston.ans.net!europa.eng.gtefsd.com!news.umbc.edu!eff!wariat.org!amcomp!dan@ames.arpa
Subject: CW ...IS NOW!
To: ham-policy@ucsd.edu
Peter Coffee WA2OJL/AE <72631.113@CompuServe.COM> writes:
>I know quite a bit about packet communications, thank you very much.
>My current class of license requires a written exam covering a variety
>of advanced modes as well as a code exam at 20 wpm. I don't currently
>operate digital modes because I don't have the money for additional
>equipment, but I accept the requirement for knowledge of those modes
>in support of 97.1(b), "advancement of the radio art." Would that those
>who oppose the code requirement, due to lack of interest in operating
>with that mode, could be equally accepting of its place in carrying out
>the purposes of the amateur radio service.
Really, the VE test you took required a pass/fail element on digital? When
was this? Or do you mean you tested on ALL other modes in ONE test and the
20 WPM in a separately graded element? Please do not equate EQUAL with a
separate pass/fail arguenment.
>I did not introduce the subject of "preserving the history of radio,"
>which your message seems to suggest I did. Speaking of straw men.
>CW is not history: to those doing EME and other state-of-the-art modes
>that happen to work with weak signals, CW is now.
Yes, and we see the commercial world FLOCKING to it in droves. (Manual
decoded morse is what I assume you mean by CW.) However, this debate has
never been about 'CW The Mode' it is and always has been about 'CW The
TEST'. The straw man in constant use (and you used it) is to attempt to
justify a pass/fail manual morse decoding element because 'CW is THE
mode', it is not. It is A mode. It may even be a usefull/fun/enjoyable/
weak signal mode. It is not the end all to radio. It does not deserve the
place it now has in the testing structure.
>And I'm sorry I got into this discussion, because it seems to me that
>the time spent replying to these messages with increasingly nasty personal
>comments could better be spent in acquiring useful skills. I have nothing
>further to add.
I could say 'We knew you had nothing further to add because you are stuck
in the past with manual morse decoded signal detection', but I won't.
You ASSUME that these discussions are not 'usefull skills' and that
learning manual morse decoding is a 'usefull skill'. Well, Sir, the rest
of the world (non-amateur) disagrees with you. I know MANY people engaged
in professional communications, NONE are currently using manual morse (or
any kind of morse). True, some shiping interests currently us it, but that
is being replaced.
Your attitide of 'better spent' and like comments are as much a 'personal
attack' as any that have been made requarding you, to someone who has NO
desire to do manual morse decoding.
Being a policy news group, IMHO, this would not be an appropriate place
to discuss the relative value of one mode over another on pure
engineering grounds. The .misc group or another, more specialized group
would be better for that. The issue here is (or should be) TESTING
REQUIREMENTS, not mode value nor popluarity. There is no test for FM which
is the single most popular mode (followed by SSB), there should not be a
pass/fail test for manual morse decoding.
Dan N8PKV
--
"They that can give up an essential liberty to obtain a little temporary
safety deserve neither liberty nor safety." -- Benjamin Franklin
- Misspelled? Impossible, my modem is error correcting!
------------------------------
End of Ham-Policy Digest V94 #386
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