Jeff, KE9V linked this little… uhmmm… gem on Twitter a few days ago:
Wow. Just Wow. Sorry kids, if you got your license or upgraded after December 2006, you’re not worthy to be here. Might as well turn your ticket in to your local FCC office. I’ll be joining you. Does anyone want all my equipment?
What a load of tripe.
I know Morse code. I learned it after I upgraded to General last November. It’s a good skill to have. I have no problem with people extolling the virtues of CW operation. Operate it exclusively for all I care. I know more then a few Hams who love their CW and I have no problem with them. However, certain CW fans go a little over the top. Suggesting that I am dumbing down the hobby because I didn’t pass a Morse Code Test? Please.
Attitudes like these do nothing but hurt the hobby. YouTube videos, flames on forums, and rants on mailing lists have left many a newcomer to the hobby annoyed and insulted. What does this accomplish? It doesn’t advance the hobby, it certainly doesn’t advance CW’s reputation, and it turns off throngs of people from the hobby. But, it continues: We’re dumbing down the hobby; CW is the one true operating mode; FCC is allowing the riff raff in by lowering the bar; etc, etc, etc.
If you have opinions, add to the discussion. Don’t insult the other side wholesale.
UPDATE: Apparently rjkd732 has seen fit to remove the video, again. Thankfully, this time I mirrored it. I’ll repost it tommorow.
Twitter
LinkedIn
Facebook
Flickr
FriendFeed
I’ve kind of layed low on this one, but Ben you are absolutely 100% correct. CW has and always will have it’s place, but let’s face it, with the elimination of it now it will eventually fade out of existence and I think that’s why some feel threatened and this is their defense mechanism.
Attitudes like these do indeed hurt the hobby, why is it some hams can not embrace change whatsoever?
I’m proud to say that I passed a 20 WPM code test back in the late 90′s, I was a 20 WPM General, and I can comfortably operate around 25-30 WPM, but that doesn’t make me more “elite” or “smarter” than the guy who just got his ticket last week, and I certainly don’t wear this on my sleeve because it’s just pointless.
In my opinion, participating in a hobby is not about proving your technical merits or ability, it’s simply about having fun and doing what you enjoy and sharing your enthusiasm with others.
Posted by Stephen - K1LNX on December 5th, 2008.
Ben:
I earned my Novice in 1988…through the years, I took the 5, 13, and 20 WPM code tests. I did CW for years…Ham and Military. At one point I was good up to 35+ WPM. Does that make me more worthy? No. Does it make me better? No. CW is another mode. Period. End of discussion. The load of crap that “CW gets through when no other mode will” may have been true in the pre-digital days, but ALL of the arguments in favor of just don’t hold water anymore. Olivia, MT63, and JT65 can be copied in conditions that would make most CW ops give up.
The world has become far too technologically inclined to WORRY about whether or not CW can be copied.
CW will always have a place on HF. Judging someone by that archaic skill is inane.
John KB2HSH
Posted by John KB2HSH on December 5th, 2008.
Why did the Video’s Creator plagiarize to create this work?
Wonder if this chap figures if you didn’t learn on a car with manual transmission, manual choke, manual spark advance and a hand crank, that you are somehow an inferior driver?
I know people who hold this attitude. Ask them to do set down to a key and show off their well honed 30 wpm skills…. so far 80% of them have made excuses to sidestep the challenge.
Code is worth knowing, and yes I did pass my code 20 years ago.
But the logical fallacies of this clip – that if CW isn’t part of licensing it can’t be learned or done right – that since amateur radio testing has one less requirement that all the added an updated material must be discounted as a dumbing down – and the general negative attitude mask the real issue.
The real issue is the clip’s author’s living in the past. A clinging to yesterday so profound that they are not even in the present, much less looking to the future.
High end key makers report record sales. CW training materials and software continue to sell. The CW clubs have not withered away.
No CW is NOT dead. CW testing is, and may it Rest in Peace.
And guess what, CW is Fun too!
73
Steve
K9ZW
http://k9zw.wordpress.com/
Posted by Steve K9ZW on December 5th, 2008.
Well, apparently the video’s been taken down, and I didn’t see it, but I wouldn’t get too upset when you find stuff like this posted. As you noted, these guys are living in the past, and they’ll soon be gone, while you’ll still be enjoying ham radio.
I’m as big a CW geek as there is, but I don’t moan about the elimination of the code test. As far as I’m concerned, eliminating it has opened the doors to a lot of people who will make great hams.
And as K9ZW has pointed out, CW isn’t going away. All you had to do is listen on the low end of the HF bands last week to figure that one out. During contest weekends it’s wall-to-wall CW, and even when there’s no contests, I hear almost as many CW QSOs in progress as I do phone QSOs.
Posted by Dan KB6NU on December 5th, 2008.
I was just licensed this year so didn’t have to learn code, and am a no-code extra, oh noes. I plan on learning code and eventually operating cw but I am glad I was able to be licensed before learning simply because there is so much to this hobby, code is such a minor part of the entire hobby.
I wish they’d decide on if they want to post the video or not, geez.
Posted by Trey on December 5th, 2008.