I forget exactly what year it was, but the no-code Technician's Class
license came into being. Both my husband and I were very, very depressed
about this, as we loved CW so very much, and we could see what was going to
happen down the road a piece. Sure enough, it did! Ham radio became an
unregulated CB band where folks jammed other folks, whether on CW, SSB, AM,
FM. The FCC refused to take much part in violations, saying that hams were
supposed to be self-policing! Now, the ARRL has implemented this thing
where if a person passes a five-word-per-minute code receiving exam and
answers ten questions, he or she can walk away with an Extra Class License!
OK, I believe that no-code is OK for severely disabled folks, but why take
our dedicated CW and RTTY frequencies away from us who love CW so much?
People don't seem to have to work nearly as hard to get a license as we did
forty-four years ago! Why do you suppose this is happening? Just so younger
folks can get in without really hard studying? Well, it makes absolutely no
sense to me!
I remember the first ham fest I attended in 1962 and the people I met
there. I remember going to a YLRL convention in 1964 and again in 1985. I
still have the brass key my late husband, John, made for me on my
thirty-seventh birthday! We used to love sitting in our shack, talking to
the same people at our different operating positions on CW!
Am I turning into an "old foop", or just a gripey old-timer who's madder
than the ace of spades and can't do a thing about it?
I'm sure there are more experiences I've had like handling traffic for the
Alaskan Earthquake in 1964 on CW, working an emergency station to
facilitate communications when there was a horrid blizzard in 1978 in
Columbus, Ohio, where I lived, but do any of you really care about all this?
88's and 33's where appropriate,
Reeva Parry,
AMATEUR RADIO CALL SIGN: K8DMU!
CW FOREVER! IT'S THE THREAD WHICH BINDS US!
--
No virus found in this outgoing message.
Checked by AVG Anti-Virus.
Version: 7.0.323 / Virus Database: 267.9.0/50 - Release Date: 7/16/05
|
