I am a Amateur Extra Class licensed HAM radio operator, in the United States. My call sign is AE6HR. I am all for the strong recommendation for Morse Code, though somewhat against the requirement of it for High Frequency band access. This article was written as a result or more ranting and elitist ravings found in responses to an article found at: Standards for Hams

OK, let us be donkey brained elitist fools. Everyone of you who can't use a Unix or Multics like operating system (or even decently use DOS and DOS batch files), please throw your computer out the door this instant. Never buy another one again under penalty of law. You are dumbing down a great hobby and a very useful communication/processing tool.

Those of you who are not involved in government/military, research, or education, please cancel your INTERNET service, so we can bring it back to the good old days of NSFNet or DARPANet.

In fact, let us just do this the correct way. If you can't write assembler, C, and Pascal programs, please again, throw away your computer. If you can't understand a HEX dump of a TCP/IP packet (whether it be UDP, IP, TCP, ICMP, or any other form of datagram), please immediately remove your network card or modem and cancel your INTERNET connection. Make sure you tell your boss that you can't touch a computer or network because you dumb down the hobby and the industry and hence there are now federal laws requiring that you don't touch anything computer based (televisions, watches, calculators, your car, etc.). Make sure that you give him your notice so that you aren't fired.

(Before I move on, yes I am still here because I meet most, if not all of those requirements, though my knowledge of TCP/IP at the bit/byte level is not perfect. How about you?)

Now about the Morse Code with no sarcasm...

There are people who have more difficulty in learning some things than others. To call them lazy is ridiculous. I will use my father as an example. He is a wonderful guy. Probably a harder and more determined worker than most of you calling the people who don't want CW to be a requirement lazy. He is an Eagle Scout. Back then CW was required at about 5 words a minute. He is scared to try to become a HAM, though he wants to, because he had such a difficult time learning it back then. He has "nightmares" about it, he said. He is an electrical engineer by degree (actually, was missing one class because of university elitism denying the school he went to the ability to have the class...). He has great communication, science, and engineering skills. So, as you can see, he isn't stupid either. Lazy, I doubt it. Before I was born, while he was in college, with a wife and three kids he went full time (finished in three years, instead of four), had 2-4 full time jobs the entire time. Usually getting 2-3 hours of sleep at night a best... all to quickly finish school and provide for his family. He grew up on a farm, knows hard work. When he visits his father, they go to the farm and work all day long. Even now, with some health problems, he works his rear end off at home and at work.... so I don't think you dare call him lazy, for you would be a hypocritical lying fool. However, he is for removing the requirement, last we talked about it, so he could use his technical knowledge, have means of excellent emergency communication, and have fun with the hobby with me and maybe other family members.

As people have pointed out CW is NOT used by anyone but hams these days. I am not against CW, just not for the requirement. Sure, it is wonderful and people SHOULD learn it, but that is SHOULD not MUST. There are people, like me, who have difficulty with perceiving time, it makes it nearly impossible to learn music and CW. I know, I spent 7 years learning piano... I stink compared to many people I know who spent less time practicing and have only been at it for a few months. Yes, I passed CW, barely, it is still VERY hard for me, even with a lot of practice. I know others who have even more difficulty with perceiving time. There are many other VALID and REAL disorders or differently-abled (read handicap if you will) issues that can make CW impossible. Yet, they are smart, understand radio (as my dad probably does) better than most of you Extras and Generals who are complaining. They communicate excellently; most precise, direct and concise. They are interested in the service aspect as well as the hobby aspect, yet you wish to keep them off HF?

Again, being elitist as we are, please make my favorite hobby (computers) more fun and more profitable for me by kindly going through the list at the beginning of this message and be sure to throw away your computer and network connections and kindly report yourself to the IEEE or ACM or some other body (whether government or professional association) and make sure to add yourself to a list of banned people who are just too stupid and lazy to use a computer.

After all, I bet you rely on a virus scanner, more than good practices to keep your computer safe. You probably aren't running a firewall of any kind. HOW STUPID AND LAZY CAN YOU BE. Obviously, very... look at all the worms and viruses that slow down the INTERNET.... they are caused by exactly such stupidity. If people weren't so lazy or stupid, they couldn't spread fast enough, for the most part, to cause such slow downs.

Thank you for authorizing other professionals and hobbyists to be elitist idiots. I am sure they will come down hard on you. After all, you probably couldn't build an engine or really fix it, but you drive a car.

For those of you who are good mechanical engineers and good with computer science, this message obviously isn't targeted at you with content, but the idea still holds.

Yes, this hobby should require technical know how, that is part of the hobby. But communication is the main part. Morse Code, as wonderful and useful as it is, really isn't used in the world at large anymore. CW should be STRONGLY RECOMMENDED, but not REQUIRED.

I think most of you should not have been allowed in college, because you failed to be matriculated properly. You know not Greek, Latin, nor Hebrew. You shouldn't be allowed to speak, because you can't use an outmoded, mostly more efficient, language. So why should you be allowed to communicate at all.

OK, enough with the elitist diatribe. Think about all of this before you are elite. Work to help people who are "LIDS" to be better. Most just don't have the experience, or the appropriate background, to help them be anything else.

Just like the INTERNET (which I do hate you people who can't run firewalls, who refuse to check out an attachment before you click, who download all this software, etc., all without proper precautions), HAM radio is a social system. It requires everyone to work together for it to work properly. One bad egg, ONE, will cause it to be ruined for everyone else. Complaining does no good.

Have you ever wondered why most religions teach that we should treat others well and help them out? It is for this very reason: EVERYTHING worthwhile is a cooperative/social system. Everyone must do their part, everyone must teach, everyone must help, or it all falls to pieces completely. Complaining only makes it worse. You add more negativity and hate, you make the signal to noise ratio so bad that nothing is worthwhile.

"To increase the number of trained radio technicians and radio operators..." or some such in the rules. CW isn't really used, it is largely irrelevant except to HAMs and in SOME very specific emergency situations (some military people still use it, because of the hazards in which they operate), but yes, by and large, even the military doesn't use it in emergencies. So, lets train people in radio theory, radio operation/repair/design, and in radio communication. I am all for that... all for requiring that. CW doesn't apply as is true of Greek, Hebrew and Latin in most communication and life.

For those questioning: no, I am not a communist. I am a hard core capitalist. I just have realized things, as did the genius John Nash in his "Games as the Foundation for Understanding Complex Economic Issues." Coopetition leads to better results than does socialism, communism or the greedy, and flawed, western view of Capitalism... "all for me, none for you."

A few people in the debate have made some valid, logical arguments. These included N7DM and W5PYH. I salute them and those like them that can make logical arguments. I am not sure I am totally swayed, however, it does strengthen the position that "the code" SHOULD be learned, even if it isn't a must.

N7DM had this to say: "This will no doubt be simply lost in the crowd. But, in the off chance that somebody actually reads it, I would like to point out :

Virtually all the traffic that has been generated on this topic seems to ignore the idea that there is a huge Non-English speaking World out there. That means a lot of Hams who cannot or will not S P E A K English. On the other hand, anyone who has taken a Foreign Language in school knows how VASTLY easier it is to read and write a language, than it is to make those sounds, or understand them, when heard. Morse Code seems to work out like reading and writing. I rag-chew daily with European stations that would not even consider working me on Phone. And, I myself, have entered into QSOs with Spanish Speakers..on CW...where even *I* can handle Spanish from my long ago High School class.

U.S. Phone operators tend to forget this aspect of it, if the idea ever came to them in the first place.

73 "DM""

W5PYH found it amusing that people thought Morse code was useless. He points out that in emergency situations, such as hurricane and tornado conditions, that SSB and other wide bandwidth modes fail to work as needed. Hence, Morse code is alive and well. Again, this is a very good point. You will find it about two-thirds the way down.

One place you can find a more concise argument for removing the code and a place you can join a group to remove it is at No-Code International. I suggest you go there and read, just to familiarize their side of the issue.

While I know of no direct, organized force for the other side of the issue.