Mmartin,l you raised some interesting points about the new technology in ham
radio. so much to learn!
Barb [log in to unmask]
----- Original Message -----
From: "Martin G. McCormick" <[log in to unmask]>
To: <[log in to unmask]>
Sent: Sunday, October 14, 2001 2:14 PM
Subject: Re: radio


>         I am addressing this issue from the point of view of the
> holder of an Extra Class license.  I did the twenty word per
> minute test and passed it the first time because that is what one
> had to do in 1988.  I also flunked the theory test at that time
> which is exactly the opposite of what I expected to do that day.
>
>         I got the study material from HandiHams and fixed that
> little problem a few months later so I have climbed the mountain
> clear to the top.
>
>         Now for the reality.  The present situation doesn't
> bother me one bit.  Morse Code does not build character.  The
> long-term effort to achieve something worth while does tend to
> build character although there are no guarantees of such.
>
>         Remember The Edmond Post Office murders of 1986?  That
> guy happened to have an Extra Class license, I am pretty sure.
> This is due to his 2-letter call sign and the time in which he
> held it.
>
>         Several other Extras have been involved in various forms
> of malicious mischief over the years and I believe that at least
> some of them probably learned CW at twenty WPM and passed their
> theory with flying colors.
>
>         Character is one thing and knowledge is quite another.
> The world is full of people who have one and totally lack the
> other.  People with lots of knowledge and no character are scary
> because they don't have that little voice in their head to stop
> them from using their knowledge destructively.
>
>         Amateur radio is about knowledge and character.  We are
> supposed to use our communications knowledge to help society when
> unusual situations occur.
>
>         We need to have current knowledge of how present-day
> communications systems work.  Nobody is suggesting outlawing CW,
> only that it should no longer be a requirement for earning an
> amateur license.  How many of you know what Gaussian Mean Shift
> Keying is?  What is the meaning of the Niquist frequency? How
> does Linear Predictive Coding work?
>
>         Now I don't claim to know the correct answers to all
> those questions, but they are quite relevant to all kinds of
> voice and data communications today.  Oh yes, and don't forget to
> learn how a successive approximation analog to digital converter
> works at least well enough to use it in a circuit.
>
>         My point is that the amateur radio exams are about to
> sprout a whole new crop of questions, some of which may sound a
> lot like the ones I just asked.  You will need to know about
> digital logic and communications protocols to be a modern expert
> as well as the traditional amateur radio rules and regulations.
>
>         This is a democracy and debating the changing history of
> our hobby is necessary to keep it on track.  As long as we don't
> get in to religious wars and start calling names, this is good.
>
>         CW is a wonderful thing.  I like to sit and listen to a
> good signal for a while just to copy the message, but I am not as
> bothered by the changing requirements as I am by those who won't
> learn the new technologies and at least read about how they work.
>
>         Such things as voice over IP and data compression schemes
> are all things that we may run in to or have to attempt to debug
> in this day and age.
>
>         Oh yes, for the record, I don't know much about Gaussian
> Mean shift keying except that it is a mathematically-based method
> for distributing binary data such that there is an even
> distribution of ones and zeros.  This causes radio transmitters to
> not stay on either the mark or space condition for long periods
> of time.
>
>         The niquist frequency has to do with digital sampling and
> is based on the fact that it takes at least two samples to define
> a wave form.  This means that your digital audio sampling must be
> at least twice the frequency as the  highest audio frequency you
> expect to encounter.
>
>         Linear predictive coding is another thing I know very
> little about except that it is a method of using digital signal
> analysis to break audio down in to its frequency and amplitude
> components.  Those values are transmitted over the air to a
> system which reverses the process and ends up with fairly close
> to the original audio once again.  The advantage is that one can
> transmit audio at a fraction of the band-width required to send
> straight PCM or pulse code modulation.
> The disadvantage is that it sounds weird at times.  I think some
> cell phone technology uses LPC as well as a host of computer toys
> such as the Texas Instruments Speak and Spell not to mention many
> telephone answering machines who try to cram as much audio as
> possible in to as little memory as possible.
>
>         Well, 73's for now.
>
> Martin McCormick WB5AGZ  Stillwater, OK
> OSU Center for Computing and Information Services Network Operations Group
>
> Jed Barton writes:
> >Hey gang.
> >OK, here's my take on the CW.  We should keep the 5 words a minute.  This
> >is crazy that they are trying to get rid of it.
> >It is an open invitation for the 11 meter people to just come on to HF.
I
> >have a major problem with that.
>