"Doug" wrote in
hlink.net:



I too got my license in 1957 and hated the code. I am in favor of
abolishing it for HF except in the code only portion of the bands. A
code endorsement could be added for those frequencies. The
question/answer pools are a joke, but I think federal policy regarding
them goes beyond the FCC as the FAA has similar stuff for aviation
exams now. Lets bring back the 2 year as a General Class or better
before being eligible to take the Extra Exam. Experience is needed
before getting a 1 X 2 vanity call! I keep running into those guys
(especially boaters) who have less than 6 months as a ham and think
they know it all.

Isn't it also time we abolished this ARRL nonsense of segregated ham bands,
leaving 50 Khz virtually "US FREE" from 14.100 to 14.150? 160 meters works
just fine without ARRL flexing FCC muscles on subbands no longer of use.
Let the MARKET and the hams set what is acceptable and what is wasted.

If we're going to keep it segregated like this stupidity, let's CONFINE CW
to the bottom 25 or 50 Khz of the bands, to keep old farts from using it as
a JAMMING DEVICE up in the phone bands. I've been hearing the CW jamming
for 40 years. CW has no place in the phone bands....EVER.


Larry, since you brought up the NNNN at the end of a TTY message, I
must point out it served an autostop function on TTY machines such as
the Model 28 (I admit to being a model 12, 14, 15, 19, 28 TTYer years
ago) that were equipped with a "stunt box".
Do you recall what ZCZCZRJ did?


My mom got ****ed and threw me and my Model 15 out into the garage, back in
the early 60's. Something about teletype noise keeping her from sleeping
at 2AM.....??? I never could afford a Model 28 until much later. By then,
I was running a Micrologic into a TV. Remember them?...(c;

I think ZCZCRJ turned the teletype machine motor on in systems with dead
time.

Did you ever see a Burpee reperf machine? Something like 650 wpm in a
parallel interface (not Baudot serial data). The tape just FLEW out of
them and their motors only ran intermittently. I think they were remotely
addressable, somehow.

Ah, it's all gone, now. Only noise in Radio Central on the ships is
cooling fans. Pity.....

I remember those "Secret" messages:

Mrs. Jones, wife of Admiral Jones, requests the presence of Mrs. Johnson,
wife of Admiral Johnson, at a tea given in her honor on Saturday, June 18th
at 4PM. RSVP

NNNN

Wonder how much paper this crap used to waste, NAVYWIDE? Probably lots
more than the paper I printed 24/7 back in the Cal Lab (Shop 67B) on board
USS Everglades (AD-24) on the Reuters Press broadcast on 10 Mhz band...(c;

Larry