There used to be a code requirement for ALL licenses - even Novice - until a decade or so ago when they started removing the requirement in a bid to get new people into the hobby.
Frankly, I think this is stupid. The higher ranking licenses should still have to learn CW - partly out of historical purposes, but also because its an extremely effective way to communicate in very low power situations, or in cases where you simply don't have voice available. Hell, if you can flip a light on and off, you can communicate in Morse.
Also, in the era of disaster preparedness awareness, you'd think a lot more people would be becoming hams - and CW should still be a part of that in some part. Someday, a hurricane or terrorist attack is going to hit - and people will be staring at their dead cell phones in panic. Without hams, there would be little to no disaster communication in the affected areas.
Interesting announcement in that the FCC dropped the morse code requirement for several classes of licenses years ago. This merely removes that requirement from the rest. Oh, and yes, at one time there had been code required for the tech license. --... ...--
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
John G @ Dec 17th 2006 6:08PM
This is a little bit untrue. There was never a morse code requirement for the tech license. Only for the upper ones.
Dave @ Dec 17th 2006 7:39PM
There used to be a code requirement for ALL licenses - even Novice - until a decade or so ago when they started removing the requirement in a bid to get new people into the hobby.
Frankly, I think this is stupid. The higher ranking licenses should still have to learn CW - partly out of historical purposes, but also because its an extremely effective way to communicate in very low power situations, or in cases where you simply don't have voice available. Hell, if you can flip a light on and off, you can communicate in Morse.
Also, in the era of disaster preparedness awareness, you'd think a lot more people would be becoming hams - and CW should still be a part of that in some part. Someday, a hurricane or terrorist attack is going to hit - and people will be staring at their dead cell phones in panic. Without hams, there would be little to no disaster communication in the affected areas.
Joe @ Dec 17th 2006 8:28PM
Interesting announcement in that the FCC dropped the morse code requirement for several classes of licenses years ago. This merely removes that requirement from the rest. Oh, and yes, at one time there had been code required for the tech license. --... ...--
Ray Owen @ Dec 21st 2006 6:28PM
Tech lic was general test with 5 wpm code test, like Novice- No?
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