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FCC Drops Morse Code Requirement
leighklotz writes to mention a story discussing what some might consider a historic event. The FCC has dropped the Morse Testing requirement for amateur radio certifications. The public announcement was made on Friday. Ham radio operators will no longer have to study Morse,
in a move patterned after other western nations. Says leighklotz: "The U.S. joins Canada and other countries in eliminating the morse code testing requirement, after being authorized to do so on July 5, 2003, when the World Radio Telecommunications Conference 2003 in Geneva adopted changes to the ITU Radio Regulations."
There's nothing wrong with morse code, it's just no longer a requirement to master morse code in order to take part in all sorts of other communication modes. Anyone who wants/likes to practice morse code is free to do so, it's just no longer an obstacle for people who do want to become a HAM operator but have no interest in this single mode of operations.
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If they want to avoid people who don't know Morse code, they can communicate on the frequencies reserved for it. But hell, for 6 years the only proficiency you needed was 5wpm to get the highest class license. That's hardly communicating.
That said, you still need to be licensed. It's not like they're giving everyone a gun, a bag of bullets and a case of beer.
They will denounce it with bitter fury. Morse code requirements are a subject that shuts down rational discussion among hams as fast as abortion or the Middle East does among the general population.
If you're going to send messages, which is probably what you'll want at low bandwidths, there's got to be better and more efficient encodings and transmission protocols than CW. Off-hand, how about not sending the message in order so transmission errors don't result in consecutive symbols lost, and with CRC/ECC techniques and encapsulation to boost the chances of recovery (and reduce sensitivity to noise/loss). Isn't this the kind of thing that makes experimenting with 'moon bounce' and such fun in the first place? Experimenting with encodings, compressions, recovery methods, heuristics, homing algorithms, etc?
If I were part of the ham culture I'd be concerned that CW, by providing a predesigned but rather poor encoding and protocol standard, discourages innovation and entrenches mediocrity.
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For all those who don't know Morse Code, it says "Interesting".
One of the reasons that hams do not use the max allowed power all the time is that hams are supposed to use the least power they can to communicate. Not that they always do. Two hams a block or two apart may be chatting with each other through a wide area repeater transmitting at 50 or 90 watts, when they could be communicating simplex at less than a quarter watt.
Also transmitting at x watts uses x plus some variable depending on the equipment in use power that has to come from some place. Commercial power, batteries, generators, solar cells, windmills all cost money or significant effort to put a signal on the air.
Lastly, as odd as it seems to some people, we do not want to cause interference with other services or non-radio equipment. It actually bothers us when neighbors report that they are hearing our signals on their TV, computer speakers, or stoves. It means that energy we want to be broadcast for reception by other hams is being picked up by equipment not designed to receive the signal. Either energy that we want to be in the frequency spectrum we are transmitting on is in another spectrum, or the consumer equipment our neighbors are using has been designed poorly or the like.
There are also big challenges to seeing how far we can communicate with very little power. There are a lot of hams that contest and communicate around the world on less than 5 watts. You know, the amount of energy that an incandescent night light draws.
You never know...
Okay, I probably shouldn't reply to a -1 flamebait, but are you aware that the FCC hasn't been in charge of the tests for some time? The Question Pool Committee (QPC), made up of representatives of each Volunteer Exam Coordinator (VEC), determine what is a part of each license class's exam. The FCC has been trying to back away from Amateur Radio for about 30 years now. This is just one more step.
If you truly care about the direction the Service is headed, then you need to get involved in one of the organizations and work toward that end.
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I think there is a world market for maybe five personal web logs.
Don't know where you get your information, but I've been an amateur radio operator since the mid-60's and I've never heard of any 'official emergency crew' using CW.
Careful with the encryption feature. Using it is an FCC violation.
Lots of people dislike the FCC content regulations, like this ham, for example.
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He posted an update on this last night at Technocrat
http://technocrat.net/d/2006/12/15/12273
It's not that you have to know enough to build a radio. On the electronics front it's mainly knowledge about how basic circuits work, like oscillators and amplifiers. Much of the exam is on FCC rules and is simple memorization. Probably the most complicated thing you'd have to do is calculate the resonant frequency of a simple oscillator circuit or the proper length of an antenna for use on a given band, although I'm guessing a little here, since it's been fifteen years since I got my license. The license manuals teach you everything you need to know to pass the exam.
Look here for an amateur radio association in your area. The members are usually happy to help someone get their license. It's been said that every ham is responsible for bringing someone else into the hobby.
It's not just a different encoding, it's a completely different method of transmission. Morse code usually implies CW (continuous wave) transmission, which is readable by humans at signal levels far below those usable for voice. It's copyable without the use of a computer or any other specialized gear, other than (obviously) a recevier.
The 12 wpm test hasn't existed for about 5 years. It's been a single 5wpm test for a while now.
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