Tom, I don't know where you are offhand. However, when I read your post I felt I had to answer. I live in northeastern Ohio within a mile of the south shore of Lake Erie, and believe me, we get white Christmases here every year. I moved here from the Cleveland area just before winter 1999, and haven't seen a winter without lots of snow yet in nearly four years of living in this area (east-central Lake County). Lest I forget, it snows like the dickens every winter where I used to live as well. I remember one winter (1978) when we had at least a foot of snow, and if I remember correctly, I lost an antenna one year as well when snow piled up on it. (Talk about a good time for ARES! I bet every ham in northern Ohio, or nearly every one, was active on ARES nets during that storm, which I assure you I will never forget!)
I don't have any more trouble with wind and/or snow damage to antennas. I now live in an apartment and use my Icom IC-725 (100 watts)with a Barker & Williamson AP-10 apartment antenna. It works, as near as I can tell right now, but I haven't tested it yet for DX. Oh well, one of these days!
73,
Jeff, WB8NHV
Fairport Harbor, Ohio
mailto: wb8nhv@arrl.net
I'm getting to be like that myself. I've been licensed 31 years (General now, Technician before that, Novice in the early '70s), but for the last five or so I've been using my computer, the Internet and e-mail much more than I've been on the air. The last time I had my rig on was about a month ago, when I checked into an info net on 40 meters. The radio has been off since, although I have a new antenna which I know works and the rig, obviously, works as well.
As to the code requirement for all ham licenses except Technician, I say keep it--even if it is only 5 wpm. I worked much too diligently to get my own code speed up above 13 wpm to get my General; I am not about to let all that go down the drain, any more than I would let my license expire. Both are too darned important to
me. I had a Technician ticket from 1975-85 and operated CW from 1982 to the present (the General code requirement was 13 wpm when I passed my test). That mode means a lot to me.
Too late to save ham radio? I don't know about that, but whatever happens next, you can bet I'll still be pounding brass and listening to W1AW to keep my code sharp. Heck, I'll probably die with my keyer paddle in my hand and my rig on, tuned to W1AW--that's how much I like CW.
Again, I say let's keep the code requirement for all ham licenses which permit HF operation, even if only at 5 wpm. I have always considered the ability to send and receive Morse code a special one. If you have it, as I do, use it. In over twenty years of pounding brass on HF myself, I consider CW a kind of magic and very mysterious (to the uninitiated) mode of communication. In a day and age in which new hams are flocking to non-code modes such as packet, RTTY and others at the expense of operating CW, we must keep the CW operators we already have. The OTs are dying off or becoming inactive, and there aren't enough new ones coming into the hobby to replace them.
--......-- (73),
Jeff, WB8NHV
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Tom, I don't know where you are offhand. However, when I read your post I felt I had to answer. I live in northeastern Ohio within a mile of the south shore of Lake Erie, and believe me, we get white Christmases here every year. I moved here from the Cleveland area just before winter 1999, and haven't seen a winter without lots of snow yet in nearly four years of living in this area (east-central Lake County). Lest I forget, it snows like the dickens every winter where I used to live as well. I remember one winter (1978) when we had at least a foot of snow, and if I remember correctly, I lost an antenna one year as well when snow piled up on it. (Talk about a good time for ARES! I bet every ham in northern Ohio, or nearly every one, was active on ARES nets during that storm, which I assure you I will never forget!) I don't have any more trouble with wind and/or snow damage to antennas. I now live in an apartment and use my Icom IC-725 (100 watts)with a Barker & Williamson AP-10 apartment antenna. It works, as near as I can tell right now, but I haven't tested it yet for DX. Oh well, one of these days! 73, Jeff, WB8NHV Fairport Harbor, Ohio mailto: wb8nhv@arrl.net
I'm getting to be like that myself. I've been licensed 31 years (General now, Technician before that, Novice in the early '70s), but for the last five or so I've been using my computer, the Internet and e-mail much more than I've been on the air. The last time I had my rig on was about a month ago, when I checked into an info net on 40 meters. The radio has been off since, although I have a new antenna which I know works and the rig, obviously, works as well. As to the code requirement for all ham licenses except Technician, I say keep it--even if it is only 5 wpm. I worked much too diligently to get my own code speed up above 13 wpm to get my General; I am not about to let all that go down the drain, any more than I would let my license expire. Both are too darned important to me. I had a Technician ticket from 1975-85 and operated CW from 1982 to the present (the General code requirement was 13 wpm when I passed my test). That mode means a lot to me. Too late to save ham radio? I don't know about that, but whatever happens next, you can bet I'll still be pounding brass and listening to W1AW to keep my code sharp. Heck, I'll probably die with my keyer paddle in my hand and my rig on, tuned to W1AW--that's how much I like CW. Again, I say let's keep the code requirement for all ham licenses which permit HF operation, even if only at 5 wpm. I have always considered the ability to send and receive Morse code a special one. If you have it, as I do, use it. In over twenty years of pounding brass on HF myself, I consider CW a kind of magic and very mysterious (to the uninitiated) mode of communication. In a day and age in which new hams are flocking to non-code modes such as packet, RTTY and others at the expense of operating CW, we must keep the CW operators we already have. The OTs are dying off or becoming inactive, and there aren't enough new ones coming into the hobby to replace them. --... ...-- (73),
Jeff, WB8NHV