17 Apr
2011
17 Apr
'11
2:17 p.m.
On Sun, 17 Apr 2011, Dave McGuire wrote:
On 4/17/11 3:27 PM, Gene Buckle wrote:
It turns out that my fears were unfounded, and ham radio experienced quite
a bit of growth as a result of the no-code tech, and (from what I saw at the
time) that growth was largely positive. Now, knowing this, I have no problem
with it at all.
The problem is that most of the old-timers refuse to acknowledge that
their sky-is-falling fears never materialized. They'd much rather
denigrate the work of "lesser" hams. It's pathetic.
Sheesh.
When I was last a ham, there were five classes of license, and
the odd-numbered ones had morse requirements. Things sure have
changed. I like these new digital modes, though. I'm looking forward
to trying them out.
What really pisses me off is the snorting derision from the old timers
about "no-code Generals" and "no-code Extras". When I upgraded to
General, they were still considering dropping the code requirement so I
had to take the code portion of the test. That doesn't mean that people
getting tickets post no-code worked any less to get their license, but
to hear these guys talk you'd think if it wasn't done THEIR way, it
shouldn't be done at all.
73 de kc7afe. I always wondered why CW was considered by so many to
be such a high
barrier to entry. I got 5WPM code at 100% when I was eleven years old to get
my (pre-no-code) Tech license. If I could do it, anyone could, but
apparently many people thought they couldn't. I still don't get that.
I spent many days driving to and from work with the ARRL code CD going in
my car. :) I also bought a neat trainer called NuMorse that is pretty
good. There's a Koch method trainer called "G4FON" that's very good and
freeware as well.
One of these days I need to recover all that morse code I let slip out of
my head. I've got a perfectly good Bencher paddle that's getting lonely.
:)
g.
--
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