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FCC Ponders Removing Morse Code Reqs for Amateur Radio Licenses

Posted by CowboyNeal on from the dot-dot-dash dept.

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.

9 of 341 comments (clear)

  1. probably too late to save the hobby by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Interesting

    i'm a ham and never bother turning on my rig anymore. I get much more satisfaction out of computers and the internet.

    1. Re:probably too late to save the hobby by JGaiser · · Score: 4, Interesting

      I have to agree. I've held an Amateur Radio license twice in the past 30 years (WB7RHQ and N7PWF) and in both cases the old farts (and it has nothing to do with age) have ruined whatever interest I might have had.

      I'm truly surprised that this proposal has reached this far. I used to constantly listen to the arguments that Morse Code was a necessary hurdle to prevent the riff-raff from entering the hobby. Morse Code was never a problem for me - I passed 20WPM to graduate from Naval Radioman School in 1966 - but only attempted to use it twice. Good Riddance.

    2. Re:probably too late to save the hobby by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 4, Interesting
      i'm a ham and never bother turning on my rig anymore. I get much more satisfaction out of computers and the internet.

      Ditto. There's just really not any advantage to using it. I only turn on my radio for one weekend a year to help support a volunteer event for emergency medical communications. It would've been nice to chat with people during this past blackout, but alas I'm only a technician class so I need to bounce off a repeater and they were all in disaster mode to save power on battery/generators. If I had HF privileges I could've talked to people outside the blackout area from my car. I have no interest in learning morse code though so that's not an option for me (yet?).

      It also doesn't help that amateur radio is a very elitist medium. The "old timers" treat anyone interested in getting into the field like they're n00bs as much as we would them getting into computers. I wouldn't mind playing around with APRS and packet radio, but it's hard to find any decent info and get help without being treated like a fucking moron.

  2. Morse code on the cell phone by farnerup · · Score: 5, Interesting

    If I knew morse code, I would like to have a cell phone that understood morse code. I'm sure entering SMS messages would be a lot faster that pressing 1 three times for "c" and so on. The phone would need just a single button!

  3. Re:Clarification .. by laing · · Score: 5, Interesting

    1: Morse code is the simplest form of modulation that can convey intelligence. You don't need much in the way of circuitry to build a C.W. (continuous wave) transmitter. Ham radio is all about experimentation, do-it-yourself projects, and good will. The easiest way to get on the air is to build a C.W. transmitter.

    2. Morse is still used extensively. Tune around the H.F. CW bands and you'll always hear lots of QSOs going on.

    3. In addition to being a simple form of modulation, Morse is also very good at moving data through low SNR (signal to noise ratio) conditions. It's much easier to discern whether or not there is a C.W. tone present than to try to understand spoken language. Note: There are other digital modes which add FEC (forward error correction) and these are actually even more robust than Morse; but you can't do them without additional equipment. Morse communication can be accomplished without a computer.

  4. Article: A Business Man's View by wherley · · Score: 3, Interesting

    Here is an article at eham.net with one hams viewpoint and lots of comments. his bottom line - don't sweat the dropping of code requirement.

    K9JRW

  5. As a kid... by Funksaw · · Score: 4, Interesting

    As a kid, I was actually pretty interested in the idea of ham-radio. I loved the idea of communicating worldwide with people. (I suppose that's when the Internet came along, I took to it like a duck to water...) But, honestly, I couldn't get the morse code requirement. The way my brain works, it's hard for me to, well, memorize stuff. Calling it up on command would be even sillier. So I never got into it. Here's the thing though. We have typewriters. We have computers. You can still *use* morse code without *knowing* morse code - simply hook up a computer on your line, type your message, and have the computer encode all of the message to Morse. If one wants to recieve, that can be translated by computer also. Morse is a great transmission type - and great for redundancy in emergencies - but it's hard to learn and use. Instead, why not keep the positives of morse code, while taking away it's negative - it's hard-to-learn status? -- Funksaw

  6. Re:Technician class? by Bagheera · · Score: 4, Interesting

    Wrong.

    Technician class gives you access to all the amature bands "above" (higher freq, shorter wavelength) 6 Meteres and includes the 6 meter band. This also includes the multi GHz bands where things like, say Wireless LAN, live.

    While CW may have dubious value any more for "real world" work, it's still in use by a lot of Hams worldwide, and is one of the best ways to do QRP (low power) work. It takes minimal bandwidth and power to communicate with CW.

    Another thing it does is put up a minimal barrier working the HF bands. While that may seem "lame" to you, it would suck royally to have the Ham bands turn into the CB bands. The 5 WPM requirement is not that hard to achieve, but it at least shows "you" have enough dedication to go through the trouble to actually learn something that didn't just come from a cram session for your test.

    --
    Never attribute to malice what can as easily be the result of incompetence...
  7. Never mind the aliens... by M1FCJ · · Score: 3, Interesting
    Well, morse code exam was a tool for having enough people to be able to communicate after the big nice exchange with the ruskies. Before that it was the easiest way of having experienced radio operators when the enemy tanks started rolling around (into Poland, mostly).

    Now there are no Ruskies, no german tanks rolling around, no ships to save since no longer international rescue stations uses morse (everyone has a satellite phone apparently).

    IMHO, it will live, as a hobbyist's tool. Once I turn the DSP on and reduce the filter frequency to 25kHz I can hear any weak signal through the interference. I have a Yaesu FT-847 and you can put nice mechanical filters in it and have even tighter filters. Since default morse code signal fits into a 3 kHz deviation it is an efficient way of communication.

    It is just like steam locomotives. The diesels have taken them out of the lines but they still run.

    Da da di di dit, di di dit da dat. M1FCJ/P signing off.