Today I attempted to make a posting concerning the FCC Notice of Proposed
Rule-making(NPRM) to eliminate the code requirement for obtaining an Amateur
Radio license, thereby killing CW contesting. The moderator made it clear in,
no uncertain terms, he would squelch all discussions because it was not related
to contesting. Well it has a great deal to do with contesting, at least 50% of
contesting. Once the requirement for knowing CW to obtain an Amateur Radio
license is gone within 5 years the CW contests will fade away. The new breed of
hams will have no interest in CW contesting because they had no incentive, or
reason, to learn the code. It is well documented now that phone contests have
more participation than CW contests. Removing the code requirement will put the
final nail in the coffin for CW contests. There is a large number of CW
contesters, like me, who are 'getting long in the tooth' and CW contesting will
need replacements. If there is no longer any requirement to
learn the code where are our CW contest replacements going to come from?
So, you see Tom this is probably one of the most important contest discussions
we could have, especially as it relates to CW contesting. The contesting
community needs to get together, with one voice, and make comments to the FCC
against this NPRM. If the contesting community does not get fired up against
the NPRM then 50% of the contests will just disappear. There are only 2
options: Ignore it by burying our heads in the sand and losing CW contests or
make a strong stand against this NPRM. If we fail we can at least hold our
heads high because we gave it our best effort to save CW contesting.
MAL N7MAL
BULLHEAD CITY, AZ
http://www.ctaz.com/~suzyq/N7mal.htm
http://geocities.com/n7mal/
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