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FCC Ponders Removing Morse Code Reqs for Amateur Radio Licenses
Nalez writes "This story on the ARRL website outlines six petitions currently in front of the FCC to drop the Morse code requirement for the amateur radio license exams. Currently the ability to do Morse code at 5 words per minute is required to operate on the high frequency bands (below 30Mhz), which are the bands that propagate best around the world." While this may or may not attract more people to ham radio, it will make it easier for the novice to use packet radio devices.
I know the old-timers don't want to hear this, but it's really about time that this outdated modulation and transmission scheme no longer be required. They old-timers won't admit it to others, but they know that their hobby isn't growing because of the code requirements.
Kids these days--the very people you want to get excited about ham radio--have absolutely no interest in pounding the brass, fumbling over the differences between A and N and trying to copy what others have to say via Morse. Remember, they're growing up in a HDTV, 500-channel, broadband Internet world. It's absolutely no surprise that they think sending letters with dits and dahs is draconian. It is.
Let's give the customary 2-meter and 6-meter privileges to new tickets and push the cutting-edge technologies like PSK31 on the newbies. Show them that ham radio can truly be exciting and modern. But it really is about time the code went the way of the dinosaur. Don't outlaw it--just make it optional.
Karma: Excellent Birds (mostly as a result of listening to Laurie Anderson)
We knew that sooner or later this requirement would be removed. Those of us who love CW (Morse Code) still use it, and others will continue to do so, if only because it is simple, it works, and it overcomes real language barriers.
Still, even though we may love it, it is an anachronism, and the requirement will be dropped, like it or not.
73
W4TI
Soli Deo Gloria
Ham radio isnt to be used for commercial and/or encrypted communication.
There is no way for a person to have a secure private conversation over long distances without going over some sort of provider.
802.11b don't count cause it has limited range.
That sucks.
-Johan
Ahem...anyhow, you could argue that being a ham operator is like joining the Army: you're making yourself and your abilities available to your country/neighbours/fellow humans if necessary. Morse code is intelligible when packet radio and voice are not. Multiple, redundant channels of communication are Good Things, especially when disaster strikes...why allow one of those channels to wither and die?
Carousel is a lie!
There's already packet for 2-Meter ... so changing the Morse requirement would only allow it on different frequencies.
As an Amateur Extra class holder, I can see both sides of this ... if you drop the requirement, then more people would be able to get the General or AE license.
However, if there is a roadblock (not a very high one), that would limit the number of poor operators on HF frequencies that would travel around the world.
If BPL does come to fruition, it really won't matter on HF anymore.
BTW, what type of communication would prevail if aliens invade?
Karma? Karma? I don't need no stinkin' karma.
Three questions for all you hams:
- Why was morse code originally required for amatuer radio operators?
- How often is morse code used today?
- What advantages does morse code have, vs other forms of radio communication?
I'm all for dropping the CW req. but I understand why it's there... It's low-tech, and can be received a lot further than any other type of transmission... very little of the actual signal needs to make it thru in order to get the message. High-tech relys on more equipment, and therefore, usually has a higher risk of malfunction, and more difficult repair. Pretty easy to make a cw switch... any two pieces of electrically conductive materials would work in a pinch.
-- Liberalism is a mental disorder.
While this may or may not attract more people to ham radio, it will make it easier for the novice to use packet radio devices.
Did you mean Novice class licensees, or new licensees?
Assuming the latter: A technician-class license (no code, 30 MHz and up operation only) has no code requirement and packet radio use is common.
What this will make easier is for people who don't have any use for code (like myself, I have to admit) to transmit on the worldwide HF frequencies with packet.
Of course, if they do drop the code requirement, I am not sure I will operate on HF, because the equipment is kinda spendy, antennas are kinda big (I live in an apartment), and all the fun stuff that I like to do is on VHF/UHF. (I like satellite & other space stuff like EME.)
"Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms, and Explosives" should be a convenience store, not a government agency.
I have a General-class HAM license. There is no reason anymore to require morse code. But with the internet and cell phones and satelite phones, there is no reason to need a HAM license either.
Now, I'm fairly new at this, so excuse my ignorance... ... counter-cultural for a geek community?
I know commercial traffic is forbidden, this is understandable. But encrypted messages are forbidden? Does this not seem a little
Look - everyone wants to try to bend over backwards to help people feel welcome these days. Instead of changing the rules they should look for alternatives. Maybe create their own spectrum for those who want to participate but don't know morse code. The rules of golf have been around a long time. However recently to make people feel accepted or to try to capture a larger audience those rules have been changed. Cases in point: Casey using a golf cart and Annika Sorenstam playing a PGA event without having earned a proper PGA Tour card. In both these cases the end result was disappointing even though it was done with the best of intentions.
We have to respect the rules and understand the subtle details of the hobbies we choose (be it morse code or where to drop an out-of-bounds shot). What's next - do we change chess because people can't remember that the knight has to move in that crazy 'L' shape? Yeah, that's it - we'll protest the Internation Chess Federation for that - it's not fair to those who don't want to or can't learn how to use the piece correctly!
Sorry for the rant, but at some point you have to stand up and say no!
--AB
CM (Carrier Modulation: turning the signal on and off manually) is the most basic mode of radio communication.
When you're sinking at sea and the boiler explosion has thrown your microphone and keyboard over the side, you'll still be able to call for help, give your position, and ask for clean drawers by plugging and unplugging the antenna lead.
If the FCC wants to create a new class of licenses for selfish, aloof operators who "just don't want to get involved", well, that's what the Radiotelephone licenses are for.
As a former ham radio geek, I too had to learn CW, at least 5wpm - back then, it was a requirement to be able to use much above 30mHz. I survived the test, and forgot nearly everything about CW after that, workig on packet radio, satellite and 6m ssb dxing.
:) So, while the FCC is finally hoping to abolish CW for more technologically-advanced communications, the old curmudgeons can still use their dinosaur-mode skillset.
My partner also learned CW, and loves it, eventually getting her Extra-class license. As we now live in an apartment, antennas are not allowed, so we both gave up on ham radio. However, she hasn't given up on CW.
She's found a new program - IRCQ - that uses CW over the Net. Yikes!
So, I guess that CW won't die, despite the FCC's wishes. I personally won't mourn iys passing, but I do see how it can be useful in a very tight situation. Maybe I'll even give ITCQ a try some day,
73 de N9JZW
Lemon curry?
But anyway, as friendly and interesting as the "old farts" are in amateur radio, many have war experience, and this hobby is their outlet for the training they received. That's fine. But the ideology behind licensing is the problem, that only by learning code (and up to 16 or 20 wpm for advanced licenses) can one fully appreciate amateur radio. This has reduced amateur radio's numbers, even though licensees have discussed this ad nauseum. "How do we build up the ranks?" "How do we make it interesting?" Simply put, the code requirements, a severe blockade to the other amateur radio technologies entirely unrelated to dit-dah-dit (like satellite, amateur TV, etc) is what's gating the wider acceptance to amateur radio. The "old farts" have not gotten it yet.
There are actually much better technologies for doing anything Morse code claims to do now. PSK31, for example, is a far better digital modulation system than Morse. Even Morse could survive if it was desired, but why keep a very knowledgable ham (perhaps one that has even passed the Expert class written exam) off the bands just because they can't learn an ancient 19th century audio encoding technique? There is plenty of computer technology that would allow a ham to both send and receive code much better than someone doing it by hand and ear. You need some technology to receive a radio signal anyway, why arbitrarly draw that line short of letting a ham put a morse-to-speach converted in a set of headphones? (Which, of course, is perfectly legal for all use, just not for qualifying for a license in the first place. In fact I know many hams who learned code to get their license and never used it again afterwards, and, although they have renewed their licenses since then, could not use morse code now if they had to.)
Most importantly, a frequent argument the old farts like to make is the "importance" of Morse code in emergency situations. But keeping people out of the hobby and having less stations able to monitor and respond in emergency situations because people who can not learn morse code have been kept out does not make sense. In this sense the morse code license requirement actually keeps many hams (like myself) from having HF equipment that they could provide aid with when a disaster hits.
And yes, although some people have no problem with it, there is a significant barrier for Morse code for many. It's not just learning what the patterns are and what letters they match up to, it's being able to hear them and do that translation in real time while signals continue to come in. Easy for some, hard or imposiable for others, even though they have tried all of the tricks many times.
Forcing new hams to learn Morse code would be like a teacher forcing new computer students to learn the Hollerith code for punch cards, saying "I had to learn it so you have to learn it". The information shouldn't be lost, but new programmers no longer need to be able to look at rectangular holes in a punch card and read the information on sight. The same should be the case for Morse code.
I'm an American. I love this country and the freedoms that we used to have.
At the time the amateur radio community in the UK was run mostly by people who got their G3 licences in the 1950s and spent most of their time sitting on 80M(3.5MHz) talking about their gardens and what they did in tne war. These people were anti anything that they percieved to threaten the way amateur radio had been for them all those years ago (73 OM and all that) and the morse test was a key(sorry:) bastion of their defence against what they saw as an advance of CB-ers into 'their' patch. The fact that most of the code-less licencees (a) really had no interest in HF communications and (b) had never used a CB in their lives obviously escaped them. In fact the class B licencee building 23cm TV gear is a lot closer to the cutting edge than the G3 with his gbp1000 Icom multi-band HF rig.
So like a lot of licencees in the '90s faced with a load of arrogant and rude old gits on one side and the internet just starting to look interesting on the other I just let my licence lapse and turned to my PC.
Amateur radio is a warning to the open source movement, I hope we dont see a load of 60-something OS coders in 30 years time excluding a new generation because they perceive that their patch is being encroached upon.
Oxford Dictionaries Online
Considering that one of the main justifications for amateur radio is to provide a means of communication when other systems fail, doesn't this mean that keeping a minimal code requirements is good? In an emergency, with limited power, and perhaps cobbled together equipment, something you can send Morse code with is the easiest to get working.
A similar rule change has been made before, and MANY MANY hams felt that it had a negative effect. Around 1989, I believe, the morse code requirement for the technication class license was removed. After that, there was a flood of bad, inconsiderate, and disrespectful new hams. Many of them were CBers who didn't want to take the time and effort to learn the code. It let in the riff raff, more Anonymous Cowards and first posters if you will.
The are several good reasons why the cw requirement should still kept after all these years. Apologies to Bruce Perens.
Think of morse code as a candle. Sure, we have lightbulbs, flashlights, glow sticks, and the sun. But, if something bad happens - the lights go out, the flashlights batteries are dead, your out of glowsticks, and its the dead of night, wouldn't it be nice to have a candle. It might be boring, plain, ugly, smelly, near useless in the modern world - but when the s*** hits the fan, you'll be glad you have it.
It is a good filter. Most people have to really give an effort to learn the code. Not all but some. I studied for a couple of weeks to pass my 5wpm test. I studied a few days for the 13wpm test. Some people claim it takes them years to learn it. Maybe, i don't know. The point is, if you want to just talk to you buddy down the street, you can get a cb for $40 at radio shack and not even think twice about a license. Think of the bad operators as spam. If you had a chance to have a really good spam filter or not, would you take it. Don't get me wrong, not all no coders are bad guys and they should have a chance to use ham radio - and they do. They can get a no code tech license and use frequencies above 30mhz. What this would change is give them frequecies priviledges below 30mhz. These frequences are special because of physics and the ozone in that they can propogate thousands of miles instead of the couple hundred of the uhf (50mhz) freqencies and above.
History. Morse code and ham radio have been together since the beginning. Its almost disrespectful in my mind to push the code to the wayside. Like putting an old dog down just because he isn't good for fetching the papers anymore.
Anyway, im fairly confident that cw will be around for a long time after its required. If i had to bet, I would say that the requirement will be dropped. I'd say at least 50 years (hopefully i'll make it to my 80th birthday)
As an aside, several people have mentioned that the written tests themselves are an appropriate filter. I disagree. All the questions that appear on every test are known in advance. I could teach my 10 year old daughter the answer to the questions without her having a clue what the questions actually mean.
This has nothing to do with the no-code tech license. At the moment you must pass a 5wpm morse test to gain access to the HF (international) bands or to go beyond tech and get your general or extra class ticket. If you want to work below 6m then you will certainly encounter lots of morse communication and will need to know it anyway.
If someone wants to be a ham and only do packet, 2m and 70cm, then they don't need access to the HF bands and I don't understand the complaining about the test.
Liken this to requiring people to understand the international standard highway signs (stop, yield, do not pass, etc...) before giving them the privelege of traveling on international roadways. Instead of saving lives by preventing wrecks, this is a courtesy that we still extend even though several other countries let hams that can't understand morse loose on the HF bands.
Kindness is the language which the deaf can hear and the blind can see. - Mark Twain
What do the old farts do that ruins the hobby for new/young people?
Too many of them are G.D. knowitalls. Others fancy themselves as some sort of emergency officials. I just wanted to chat on 2 meters while I commuted to and from work. I found that unless I got involved with the clubs, upgraded my license and volunteered to work hamfests, Skywarn/EMS/whatever, my welcome wore thin. I lost interest.
Wansu, th' chinese sailor
If anyone thinks the ability to understand Morse code means anything today, do a quick experiment.
1) Try teaching somebody to understand Morse code at 5 WPM, then 12, then 20.
2) Try teaching somebody to understand Morse code starting at 20 WPM, or better yet 30 WPM.
The first is difficult - learning "dot dot dot dash" is a "V" at 5 WPM does NOT translate to faster speeds.
The second is actually fairly easy. You don't hear the individual tones, you hear didididah and it doesn't take long for people to learn to spell out words (spoken and heard) with the new synonyms.
The problem? The people who learn to understand Morse at 30 WPM can speak it, but they can't key it... especially with the dead cat and two pieces of piano wire that the Old Farts(TM) use as an example of the type of equipment a ham should be able to use in an emergency. Worse, they can't understand or key it at 5 WPM either since that's s
o
s
l
o
w
that it would be as meaningless as human speech would be to you if it was slowed down by a factor of 6 or more.
For every complex problem there is an answer that is clear, simple, and wrong. -- H L Mencken
I've had a license for almost 20 years. I use to use it almost everyday, to keep in touch with family and friends. Around town in the late 80's we had phone patches setup to make short phone calls. Cell phones replaced that, the internet and email replaced keeping in touch with family and friends. I've kept my license up "just in case", but hardly use it anymore. I think the FCC is going to be selling off some more band space (they already sold parts of the 220mhz band) to make some money. There are a lot of businesses who would love some of the prime bandwith that for the most part is going unused. Unless there is a way to generate massive interest in the HF bands, I think amateur radio is on the critical list...
You are completely unjustified in comparing algebra to Morse, as algebra has important and practical use in real life a million times greater than that of Morse. There is nothing "dumbing down" about removing something with so little use that stands in the way of greater achievement. If anything it is "smarting up" to remove a rediculous and unnecessary limitation.
We're going to get the code test killed anyway, you know. During 98-143, the proceeding where we went to 5 WPM across the board, FCC declared that the only reason for preserving Morse testing even at 5 WPM was the treaty. It's right there for you to read in their rule-making. They have already rejected the sort of argument you make.
Bruce
Bruce Perens.