On Wed, 03 Dec 2008 17:29:33 -0500, Wayne.B
wrote:

On Wed, 03 Dec 2008 14:39:36 -0500, Tom Francis - SWSports
wrote:

And they said CW was a dead mode.

HA!!! :)

Dead only because of no-code licenses.

I'd guess it will be almost completely gone in another 20 or 30 years
as our generation goes SK. It will become a fringe niche like AM
phone. The good news is that it will only need about 25 KHz per
band.

NEVER!!!

Once you get hooked on the hi tech digital modes with excellent error
detection/correction, automated retry, adaptive speed/modulation, and
uncanny weak signal ability, it is really hard to look back.

And that's different from a good CW operator how? :)

I am truly amazed every time I see an error free EMAIL popping out of
the PACTOR from a barely audible signal.

I will grant that PACTOR, AMTOR and the other modes are great. And I
will grant you that it's kinda hard to transmit WEFAX. GPS, etc.,
using CW. I'm not a complete Luddite when it comes to digital
communications - I have the full panoply of digital modes at my finger
tips and use them - not regularly, but occasionally - in particular
Packet.

However that requires an additional level of technology that can break
down, suffer from computer failure or, in the case of my KAM Plus,
battery failure of all things.

There is a simplicity to CW that just can't be beat. It's a true
internatinal language. The whole art form of using a Vibroplex Bug
(I've got two - a Gold and my Dad's Presentation) running high speed
CW full QSK with an experienced op is pure magic. If you have a way
to make and break a pair of contacts, you can communicate.

Can't be any simpler than that.

able to build a low power CW transmitter from a bag of junk parts is
kind of interesting also, but it's like comparing a Model T with a
Ferrari. The Model T is interesting because it runs at all, and the
Ferrari is interesting because it runs so well.

Until the computer hiccups or the digital braking system gets a brain
cramp - then the good old Model T shines if only because of it's
simplicity. :)