Hello list,
I agree Phil, My novice days back in 1966 were some of my best times in ham 
radio.
We had about 10 novices and recent generals in our high school and junior 
high.
We also had a lot of teens around the state of Wisconsin who were novices 
and generals who we got to know as we would get on every day after school.
We would work each other as novices and later on 75 meter A M as side band 
was out of our budget..
I suppose cell phones, email and the internet give ham radio a back seat 
where it requires too much study and work.
Seems everything is now days instant gratification.
When I was a novice and had friends who were generals I wanted to be there 
but knew I had to study and actually had a lot of fun getting my code speed 
up there.
Bob
K9BOB

----- Original Message ----- 
From: "Phil Scovell" <[log in to unmask]>
To: <[log in to unmask]>
Sent: Saturday, April 01, 2006 9:38 PM
Subject: CW Requirements


>I used to think they shouldn't drop the code for any reason but I have
> pretty much changed my opinion about that over the years.  Frankly, the
> digital modes are practically taking over the CW bands anyhow.  If HF 
> really
> picks up during this next sun cycle peak, and it always does during those
> years, the phone bands are going to be super crowded so the whole issue of
> more phone band space is going to be coming up.  that normally means 
> cutting
> off some of the CW bands again.  I think they should give the digital 
> folks
> 100 KHz and the CW gang at least 50 KHz of their own on all the major 
> bands.
> If a person isn't required to learn the code and if he isn't tested on it,
> he won't be wanting to work CW anyhow.  It certainly doesn't make a person 
> a
> better ham, or smarter, or anything else but I wouldn't want to go without
> it.  I haven't made an HF side band contact for years now.  In fact, I 
> think
> Butch on here was my last phone contact.  I always work CW for some 
> reason.
> To tell the truth, though, I sure had a blast during my novice days.  I 
> made
> lots of friends because I worked 80 CW most of the time as a novice.  Of
> course, we only had one year to upgrade to general class so in six months, 
> I
> took the general test and passed it by the skin of my teeth.  I was 14 
> years
> young at the time.  But, like I said, I really enjoyed my novice days with
> the old gear, hot tubes, crystals to plug in, low power, and World War Two
> receivers.  Now there is the name of a good ham magazine.  Hot Tubes. 
> Grin.
>
> Phil.
> K0NX
>
>
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