An excellent point that was brought up on a local net here in Toronto was
that you may have the luxury of all this digital, and satellite
communications, That's good and yes we're in the new millennium so we're
moving ahead in giant leaps. What happens to all of this though in a power
failure? Well computers won't work, you can't get a signal on the cell
phone, some land line service can sometimes be compromised, you might have a
working phone, but the switching system in your city might not function,
especially if your area still uses the old electronic switching system (ess)
and god be with you if you're in a remote area still using the old cross bar
network. Now when nothing else gets threw, the cw is always reliable. You
can run a battery with a simple transmitter and that's quite enough to get
threw. In ham radio it's all about communications, so we shouldn't turn a
blind eye on the old school ways. As out dated as you might think.



----- Original Message -----
From: "Eric Patterson" <[log in to unmask]>
To: <[log in to unmask]>
Sent: Sunday, July 24, 2005 11:48 PM
Subject: Re: Fw: Re: fcc -- no more mores code?


Hi all, I have been reading these threads on CW and would like to put in
some comments.
        First of all, I have mixed viewpoints about removing CW from the
license
requirements.  On one hand, I can understand what the FCC is thinking.
Morse Code is out-of-date and is being replaced by digital modes.  Under
those conditions, it might seem silly for amateurs to have to take a code
test in order to get licensed.  On the other hand, if CW goes away, there is
likely to be a problem with band width.  CW takes less  band width than most
other modes.  Without CW, the amateur bands will be a lot more crowded.
        I would also like to say that amateur radio is both a hobby as well
as a
service.  It is a hobby in that it people use it for recreation purposes
while they are not at work or at school.  However, it is also a service.  It
is used during emergencies when no other communications are available.  What
does everyone else think of this?

Eric