Subj : Morse test, to be or not to be?
To   : Richard Town
From : Michiel van der Vlist
Date : Thu Jun 28 2001 04:26 am

Hi Richard,

 > SB> Don't get me wrong, I think morse is very usful, and no doubt it will
 > SB> always be used by the die hards,
 >
 > And those that appreciate its simplicity and minimal bandwidth

The simplicity is only on the part of the required equipment. Asd far as the 
effort required to learn the skill, it is far from simple.

 >  SB> but with things like PSK31 ect and
 >
 > How much bandwidth and how much kit is needed?

Don't know the exact figures, but it required /less/ than morse and it also 
makes do with a smaller SNR....

 >  SB> computer progs, manual morse is a dying art.
 >
 > Which death will be hastened by those who say it's dying

I don't think there is a self fulfilling element here. The test will go because 
of the  reasons I have stated in an earlier message. If the test goes, there 
will be very little incentive for newcomers to take the time and effort to 
aquire the skill. And for most of us, it does take effort. I passed the 
technical exam without any problem, but the morse took me a year of daily 
exercise. And that was 30+ years ago when I was still young and was a much 
quicker learner then I am now. I confess I only did it to get the full licence. 
I tried to conserve the skill by making a morse qso every month or so, but some 
15 years ago, I gave up.

I guess, it will be a dying art. Literally dying out with the ones that master 
the art.

 > Are there any repeaters that don't use morse for identity?

There were some in France last time I was there. Don't much care for it. Voice 
is too intrusive. After all one doesn't have to know the repeaters callsign to 
use it. The identification is mostle to satisfy the license authorities.  For 
that morse with a low modulation depth is fine.

Which remind me that I do still use morse. For a quite different purpose. When 
my children still lived at home  I was faced with the problem of controlling 
the telephone bill after I had installed a PABX. First two month the bill 
increased by 3 dB ;-)

So what did I do? I disassembled the programme, concocted an interface to input 
the meter pulses to the processor and changed the internal programme to monitor 
and store the cost information.

What was needed was a method to read out the collected data. There was only one 
output medium available: the tone generator that supplied dial- and busy tone. 
So I programmed it so that by dialling a special code I could read out the cost 
counters in morse!

Unfortunately that incentive to keep up the skill is also gone. The kids have 
long gone and I am a widower now. I have the house and the telephone system all 
to myself. No more need for cost control...


Cheers, Michiel

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