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Oh, the same reason that we had to fight to remove the Morse Code test requirement for Amateur Radio licensing. People tend to stick to the old ways of doing things.

Regarding the Fortune 0.5M, there are folks using Rails for mission critical applications in much larger enterprises, but not all of them talk about it. There's one publicly known hospital management project, and believe it or not a jail management application. Happy holidays!

Thanks

Bruce

founder of No Code International

The requirement to show Morse code proficiency to get an Amateur Radio Operators license is a hot topic right now for hams and hams-to-be. One of the reasons commonly given for the elimination of testing is that it has superceded by other, more efficient, modes of communicating.

Join No-Code International if you're opposed to the Morse code requirements.

73, KE6ZRH

A major step forward occured on July 5, 2003, when WRC-03 adopted changes to the ITU Radio Regulations that remove the international requirement that all administrations require Morse tests, leaving that determination to the individual administrations, but the work does not end there.

Other countries are already moving in this direction, so it sounds like it's just a matter of time before morse code is removed entirely or reduced even more.

More details here and here and here.

For the sake of completeness, I'm KD5YRD, just Technician class. I've passed the General and Extra tests, but failed the Morse code test when I tried it (yesterday!) ... so I'll need to work on it bit more (perhaps in two weeks I'll try again.) The written tests are quite simple, especially since you have access to all possible test questions, but the morse code part can be a lot harder for many people, even though 5 wpm is extremely slow.

In any event, don't get the idea that you need to know morse code to do ham radio, even today. You absolutely do not -- the Technician class license does not require it, and gets you access to many (most?) of the `fun' things that ham radio has to offer. But you may want to learn it eventually -- you'll hear a lot of it even mixed in with voice communications.

A bit of trivia: Bruce Perens of Open Source fame founded No-Code International, "a norganization dedicated to the abolition of the Morse code testing requirement as a prerequisite for any class of Amateur Radio license." I didn't see NCI mentioned anywhere in the article, but they're pretty much responsible for the last overhaul of Morse requirements.

A good article summarizing his No-Code work is Bruce's own article,"No-Code: The End-Game".

Morse code requirements are definitely one of the major "hot button" issues for hams everywhere. On one side, we have organizations like No-Code International that work to eliminate the requirements (Bruce Perens, of Debian and other Linux fame, is heavily involved with them), and, on the other side, organizations like FISTS are working to preserve the knowledge and use of CW.

For any computer geeks that have no idea what I just said, think of it as being the ham equivalent of Unix vs. Windows, or vi vs. Emacs, or Windows vs. Macintosh.

The FCC won't go for it. knowing Morse code is still a requirement to use HF ham bands, even though you can now use a computer to code/decode it. See www.nocode.org
I can't think of one positive the FCC has done for RF bandwidth in a long time. Why would they start with this?

Farnsworth is a deliberate distortion of the code timing that indeed helps one avoid the dreaded 10 WPM plateau. It sounds funny if you haven't been there, but dreaded is the right word. The problem is that below 10 WPM, you can think of code as dots and dashes. Above 10 WPM, you can't separate them in your head quickly enough to copy continuous code. You have to learn the sound, which is really forcing the recognition of the code into a different part of your brain. This forcing takes a good deal of discipline. I think it took me 60 days of copying the daily news for half an hour each morning and evening to get to be able to pass the 20 WPM test... barely. I could copy solid at 13 WPM, and at 20 I just wrote down all of the words after "is" and those were the test answers. I think ARRL actually made the test harder after I published how I passed it :-)

Be sure to visit nocode.org, code's fine on the air - let's just get it off that test!

K6BP

In the US, there's a complicated hierarchical system of licenses, which govern which frequencies and power levels a radio operator is permitted to use; it's now possible to get a license for the lower levels without proving Morse code proficiency.

Bruce Perens was involved in the creation of an organization called "No-Code International", whose goal is to eliminate code requirements for any class of amateur radio license.

I think the entire licensing scheme is one big control-freak nightmare, and don't find ham culture very interesting, but there's some interesting technology there, if you can get past the political/cultural stuff.

Thanks

Bruce

Thanks

Bruce

Bruce

• FSF, for general free software development.
• SPI, for general free software development.
• EFF, for DVD defense.
• No-Code International for the continuing battle to institute sensible laws for ham radio licensing, rather than the present system of Morse code exams.
• ARRL, another ham radio organization, specificaly their frequency defense fund.

Or someone else? This isn't a vote, though I'm looking for suggestions and rationale.

Thanks

Bruce

Morse code is fun and people won't stop using it. But to have a test on copying Morse code by ear required to get any ham license that allows operation below 30 MHz in this day and age is rediculous. The average ham is older than 60, but ham radio should be a resource for young people to learn analog electronics, RF, wide-area networking, etc. I'm hoping that this change will start to address the age gap in ham radio, and I'll be working on a campaign to get young people into the hobby and on to our HF bands.

One of the best things about this decision is that it ends a very ugly acrimonious situation in ham radio that has persisted since 1990, when the no-code VHF license was introduced as the first foot in the door for modernization of ham radio. A lot of the older hams alienated the younger ones because they felt that no-coders weren't real hams. Now, those younger hams will have the same licenses as the older ones, and will be in their faces on the HF bands.

You can read more about this in my editorial The World's Most Silly Technology Law.

Bruce Perens K6BP

I am sure Bruce Perens will have more to say but in the meantime go to http://www.nocode.org/ (this is an organization reponisble for lobbying of the FTC regarding this issue.

Also, make sure you chek out The World's Most Silly Technology Law , an editorial by Bruce Perens over at technocrat.net

Cheers.

Nick

Thanks

Bruce

The Russian Space Agency took money from Swatch, and they are going to launch the satellite from Mir because they don't want to give back the money. Likewise, they threatened to sue French AMSAT if payment for the fabrication of the satellite was witheld, and French AMSAT gave in.

The bottom line is that every ham organization involved with this has been screwed.

Yes, you should renew your ARRL membership, and look at joining No-Code International as well.

Thanks

Bruce

Here's the right URL. The posting form seems to have broken for a while, I hope this gets through.

This is thr right URL.

There's an ITU address in this list, as well as the addresses of various embassies to write to, the FCC, etc.

I have an organization I founded a few years back called No-Code International that is trying to get the FCC to drop the Morse code test for ham radio licenses. The argument between hams on that is much worse than anything we argue about in the free software community.

Thanks

Bruce

Gee, those Open Source folks have arguments. As long as we're not run by a totalitarian regime, we're going to have them. I'd hesitate to call any software company a totalitarian regime, but isn't it funny how this illustrates the difference between us and them?

Want to see an argument? Hit www.nocode.org to see info on a ham radio organization I founded that is trying to get rid of the laws that require Morse Code tests for radio hams. The arguments I get from hams are much more virulent than anything that ever happens in the free software arena.

Thanks

Bruce