[hfsig] The final nail in the coffin of Morse ?

[W6AFK]

On Wed, 27 Jul 2005 21:03:20 -0500, Walt DuBose wrote:

Bruno,

Its high time you found out how your ARRL Division director voted on the 
ARRL bandwidth proposal...if they voted for 3.5 KHz, it might be time to 
think about replacing the director with one that is more forward 
thinking...or as you see things.

Walt/K5YFW

[W6AFK] I agree... and I am vocal about it ;-)  After playing with many 
different modes (and yes, I still like CW and I can cruise at 20+ wpm, with 
30+ bursts during FD).  I decided to specialize myself in HF Data 
communications. For me, ham radio should be a hobby where one can freely 
experiment with different modes and technologies. 

This being said, I have no objections seeing Morse code removed as a 
mandatory requirement. As I mentioned above, I love morse code. However, I 
will not impose this upon others. Believing that morse code is a "filter" 
to help preserve our ham bands from rogue "appliance users" is just plain 
ludicrous. All one has to do is listen to the cacophony one many ham 
frequencies to see that morse code did not stop these "amateurs" (sic)  
from annoying us ;-)  

Ham radio needs to move into the 21st century and encourage experimentation 
of new modes without government (or lobbyist) intervention. We have a lot 
to offer and IMHO, we will not be able to successfully entice a sufficient 
number of new generation of hams by forcing them to learn a quasi-obsolete 
mode (flames away ;-). CW is fun... as long as it is not force fed.

Bruno, W6AFK/VE2EQ
Oceanside California
Grid: DM13ie