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RE: No code makes No sense: think about it
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by N2QRO on August 16, 2005
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The Anonymous post above seems to be trying to include me as an "Extremist" who only wants to pass the tests by "taking them over and over".
Perhaps you should brush up on your comprehension skills since I am the one who has stated that this should be eliminated along with the super easy multiple choice tests.
I am totally against supplying the actual questions that will be used on the test since this allows persons to study ONLY the subjects which the questions cover, and thus, does not give us an idea of how well the person knows the entire subject matter. As far as "Practice tests" which not only use the exact questions, with exact wording and gives the ANSWERS, also worded exactly, this gives the test subject the opportunity to turn it into an exercize in memorization skills only.
Instead of handing out answers to the tests so that anyone can pass, we should be using a real test which asks real questions and requires a "long hand" or "essay" response. Yes, this would require some actual "grading" work to be done rather than a "key" and would likely be rejected because of this, but still, we need to stop handing out the questions and answers in the EXACT wording used on the tests to eliminate the possibility of memorization.
I have admitted that I realized, after I aced the Extra Exam and found that the General Exam was just as hard, and the Tech Exam was even just as hard, when I studied "Backwards" (Previous post), that I was NOT learning anything, only memorizing the words of the questions and putting them with the words of the answers.
Here is where our "Filter" needs to be, in the test questions, NOT in whether or not a person can use Morse Code. As pointed out, anyone who applies themselves can learn Morse (CW) because, after all, it is also just an exercize in memorization skills. At least, that is all that is required to pass the test. Those that practice and use CW can develop it to the point of an ART FORM. There is a great difference between passing a test and becoming a true artist in CW.
Also, I want to make it clear that I agree with every positive thing that has been said about CW! I see nothing in any argument for CW that I can disagree with: The simple, cheap rigs, the narrow bandwidth, all of it. This is why I have tried to point out that no one is passing a law against the use of CW! I have asked the question of whether or not "Those who are screaming the loudest would have learned CW if not forced to?" Is this why it is so important to ramain a requirement?
Again, stop using CW as a way to filter out the "Riff-Raff" and use the Examinations instead, like they should be used.
Perhaps we should start concentrating efforts on forming "CW Clubs" or organizations who could possibly continue to make examinations and hand out certificates of proficiency. Perhaps a certificate could be issued at 5 WPM, 10 WPM, 20 WPM, 30 WPM and the 30+ WPM AWARD. Volunteers could still give the exams at testing sessions. The club or organization who issues the certificates could issue a unique "registration number" which could be looked up in a database to prove your level. Maybe even an "Expert" or "Artist" award could be earned by an actual CW session which could be monitored and voted on by several other Judge Experts?
Make it fun! Make it something to be proud of! No one is passing a law AGAINST CW! It's just long past time to stop using it as a filter. Make the Extra exam much harder than it is if you want a filter.
As far as a "bootleg" call, it is not. I noticed when I signed up that the registration asked for "a call that you will be known by" NOT YOUR call (Example: oldfart13). N2QRO or "Into Power" is just a philosophy that I decided to use to be known by. I have also applied (a while back) to obtain this as a vanity call (which I do not mind saying since the request was placed some time ago and not in danger of being hijacked - if available)
My call is currently KC9GEZ and my daughters call is KC9GZZ and you can reach me on Echolink (Midnight to 06:00) at node 198484.
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RE: No code makes No sense: think about it
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Anonymous post on August 21, 2005
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Cry louder and you may get your welfare license.
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RE: No code makes No sense: think about it
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by Ki4LNY on August 28, 2005
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No code makes No sense: think about it
by N2QRO on August 13, 2005
Hit the nail on the head. With todays technoligies HAM is going away. Look at the numbers. Untill the year 2000 there was always gain in the numbers of increasing hams. In the last 5 years that number is declining. Amature Radio is not about CW. Its about learning communications and expanding. In the Comercial world Radio Officers have been phased out. Electronics and Communication equipment have come along way. Morse Code is not a necessity and its great that people can do it as fast as they can. I know signal man rate in the Navy is no longer a need. Flashing light use to be very important. Everything changes. Who has a black and white TV set in there house that works. How many people actually sit down a write a letter to someone? We had to learn how to write. Now you better know how to type. I am going to learn Code. I plan on taking my General next month. I think people that learn code set themselves a part from the people that do not. But we need Amature Radio operators. Lets not forget what Amature Radio is all about, Learning Communications, Making better Technicians and promoting a good reputation.
You use to have to have a FCC license for a CB Radio. They did away with that and the world still turns. I agree with both sides, lets communicate and have fun.
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RE: No code makes No sense: think about it
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by oldfart13 on September 13, 2005
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>>>N2QRO...I have also applied (a while back) to obtain this as a vanity call (which I do not mind saying since the request was placed some time ago and not in danger of being hijacked - if available)<<<
Oh brother. OK, sure you can get that callsign.
http://wireless.fcc.gov/services/amateur/callsigns/vanity/
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No code makes No sense: think about it
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by W1LEE on October 5, 2005
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Suggestion: Using "think about it" in your subject is demeaning to those with other points of view, as the clear implication is that anyone who harbors a different opinion has simply not "thought about it" enough. It turns me off immediately!
Comment: I got my first ham license in 1963, when 5wpm was required for the entry level Novice license. I passed a 13wpm code test for my General Class license in 1964, and a 20wpm exam to earn my Extra ticket. I like morse code, and use it regularly in contests, dx'ing and general operating. But in today's world, requiring a demonstration of proficiency with morse code as a licensing requirement for HF privileges has no more relevency than requiring a demonstration of proficiency with a manual transmission to obtain a drivers' license.
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No code makes No sense: think about it
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by KA3TGV on October 11, 2005
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The author has it right. Eliminating CW testing for General and Extra class examinees makes no sense.
You probably won't read my comments to the F.C.C. on their N.P.R.M. Let's just say I can read the writing on the wall.
Erosion. The requirement for CW testing has been eroding for decades.
Bad rulemaking begets more bad rulemaking. Changes to the rules governing the Amateur Radio Service made sense in early days or radio:
1. It made sense to license Radio Amateurs.
2. It made sense to test at 5, and later 10 w.p.m.
A learning plateau occurs somewhere around 10 or 15 w.p.m. This has been known for a long time.
1. Testing at 10 words per minute made sense.
2. The 13 w.p.m. test (c.1935) was a bad idea.
In my opinion, the 13 w.p.m. test necessitated the 5 w.p.m. test (about 1952). A Novice band is created at 11 meters. Bad rulemaking begets more bad rulemaking.
Late in 1958, a Class D Citizen's Band is created in the old Novice 11 meter band. No CW test is required for Citizen's Band operation. Erosion.
In another attempt to 'improve the breed', the A.R.R.L. proposes and the F.C.C. approves Incentive Licensing (1967). It proves to be the fiasco many foretold and ham radio is seriously marginalized after this time.
1984. Through some legislative and regulatory changes the F.C.C. is able to turn amateur testing over to privateers. Bad rulemaking, both in the Congress and at the F.C.C. ('think of the money we'll save').
Novice Enhancement (1987). Novices are given voice privileges in the 10 meter DX Window, at 220 mHz, and at 1.3 gHz. The 10 meter s.s.b. privileges prove to be popular. Wonder if any of the Novices operated 13 cm.
CW requirement dropped for the Technician Class license (1991). A terrible, yet popular idea that created factions (check out our Founding Fathers) and led to a permanent underclass of ham radio licensees.
Restructuring (2000). No more written examinations for Novice or Advanced class license. Elimination of CW exams at 13 and 20 w.p.m. CW testing requirement for General and Extra class is 5 w.p.m., a minimal requirement. Bad rulemaking begets more bad rulemaking. More factions created.
2002. International requirements for CW testing for below 30 mHz operation are eliminated.
Restructuring II (2005). A.R.R.L. and N.C.V.E.C. propose New Novice, Communicator, or somesuch. I among many are at a loss for words. The F.C.C. wisely shoots down the New Novice, and, sadly...is only following through with what it said it would do 5 years earlier in regards to the CW test elimination.
I wish it weren't so, but it is.
I predict within ten years the F.C.C. will turn the issuance of the amateur license over to privateers (I.A.R.U. member society- how's that?) as Sweden's telecommunications authority has recently done.
There are just some things in life that require governmental control, just as there is a need for some of our best and brightest people to line the halls of Congress and staff our regulatory agencies.
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RE: No code makes No sense: think about it
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by W9VD on October 14, 2005
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Morse code IS the filter! You have to LEARN it. You have to have a basic desire to suceed and the willingness to accomplish something.
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RE: No code makes No sense: think about it
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Anonymous post on October 16, 2005
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I agree with that ability to work code should be the requirement to use the code frequency allocations. Or also for any other similar mode. I am interested in using CW but afraid of taking the test but rather more interested in the practical use of it, and not of learning the things I will never use because I am not equipped to use. I do think that spectrum reserved for code and SSB should remain reserved for it so that it can be used without QRM from FM etc. I would quickly become very good at code within days of communicating but even my brother had to study code and take the test twice before he could go on the air with it. Maybe one frequency on each band should be given to newbies to warm up on using QRP and then when someone achieves 10wpm that's their "CW-band club privilege badge" (maybe frequencies whose crystals are ubiquitous such as 3579545). I also agree that LIDS and other pests should be enforced against and otherwise shunned, who make QRM and rudeness on HF as they do on unlicensed FRS and CB.
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No code makes No sense: think about it
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by sp6oje on October 21, 2005
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Someone wrote that CW is not state of the art today, that there are couple of other modes much effective.
Probably it is true in such modes like undernoise EME communication, but belive me man ears are still best DSP system in the world. And try to copy very weak signals (few dB under noise) using different modes. CW is simply the best. If you are limited by power and antenna the only way to finish qso may be changing mode and the knowledge of CW is the must. Try to work dx in pileup using for instance 100 W and SSB and later do the same in CW. It is much faster and easier and makes (me) a lot of fun.
73's Robert
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RE: No code makes No sense: think about it
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by M3KXZ on January 7, 2006
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I agreee with N2QRO - code should not be used as a filter to keep the riff raff out.
It seems a lot of people are afraid that dropping code as a statutory requirement will suddenly lead to an influx of CB types. Well, here in the UK, the "bad" CB types have all but died out and are more interested in surfing for whatever on the internerd, chatting by mobile phone etc.
Now I was a "good" CB type. I got into radio 27 years ago at the age of 12 when my Dad bought my brother and I a couple of Sony 2 channel 27MHz AM "walkie talkies" when he went to Holland on business. I was already into electronics and did a lot of receiver building with my neighbour (one of those electronics professor types). But the CB thing started me off experimenting with antennas, got me involved in rag-chews with the local blind ex-servivemen and their wives, and there was always a really good feeling on the band - it was no different to listening to a rag-chew on HF.
Yep, I started using SSB on 11 metres and working some quite astonishing DX, but never used anything other than QRP (as such I was also a good neighbour!).
There was no way I was going to even take the first step on the amateur ladder knowing that I would be limited to 2 metres and 70 cms. And the thought of learning Morse, when I was already struggling with French and German at school, filled my heart with dread.
School, college, work, wife then children basically meant that radio had to take a back seat for years. And there it would have probably stayed had it not been for the fairly recent changes over here. The introduction of the Foundation License gave me that incentive to get back into the hobby seriously. That incentive is being permitted to use the HF bands, albeit with a power limitation of 10W and no access to 10 metres.
For the Foundation License here in the UK, an "appreciation" of the code needs to be shown. You need to receive and send short pieces of text at 5WPM, and are allowed to use a crib sheet to read and write it.
The course gives those with little knowledge of radio an excellent introduction to what can be achieved, how things should be done, electrical circuits (yep, very basic but it's a start for many), antennas and antenna tuning, propagation, equiipment, licensing requirements etc. The exam is fair. Sure it's too easy for someone who has had an interest in the hobby for a while, but it's fair for newcomers.
Then after the course, we got our licences, and could finally use our equipment.
Now, the foundation license, as it is, is probably sufficient to filter out 90% + of "bad" CB types or riff-raff. Any form of exam will filter them out. Then further filtering occurs once foundation licenses have been issued to the newcomers to the hobby.
Someone limited to 10 Watts output, with a poor antenna set up, and with a lack of patience and poor operating technique is not going to be able to speak to anyone further away than a few miles. They then get disillusioned with the whole thing, pack it in and flog their gear on ebay. It happens all the time.
Those of us who want to learn, who are excited at experimenting with antennas and locations, who are patient enough to listen, who enjoy the "self-teaching" aspect, who are excited about how the propgation is changing on different bands, excited about all this and more and are thrilled to bits when we get the DX calls - we are the ones who stay with the hobby and progress. We become the good operators, irrespective of whether we came into the hobby through CB or not.
As for CW - sure I didn't need to "learn" the code to get my foundation license. I didn't even have to work too hard to get the license (thanks to years of self-teaching I cleared the 45 question multi-choice in 3 minutes flat and scored 100%). But, I love the challenge of working QRP and am fully aware that learning the code is going to help me even more towards achieving my goals. More so than plugging a computer into the rig and working PSK31, as I don't take my computer to the beach or up to the hills! As such, I am working towards learning the code - not because I have to just to get a licence, but because I WANT to. And because it's something that I want to do, then surely that'll make me a better CW op.
I've rambled on, I know. But CW should NOT be seen as the filter to keep out the riff-raff. Any exam will keep most out, then boredom will lose another lot, then it's up to you experienced operators to encourage any remaining riff-raff to become good operators, through setting a good example and "teaching" them. If there are still riff-raff remaining they'll be very few and far between, and probably never noticed. CW is not being "banned", you will not lose CW. There will be more of us here to learn the value of CW and to learn CW so there will be more CW on the amateur bands.
Anyone heard of Eugene Sully from Big Brother?
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