The Federal Communications Commission is dropping the Morse code requirement, or what's left of it, for certain amateur radio licenses. Hmmm...now, while the five-word-per-minute code requirement for certain privileges isn't that stringent (I learned the code as a Boy Scout in the early 1970s), it was a barrier, and a needless one: the hobby has been slowly dying since the 1960s, and erecting and maintaining barriers doesn't help.
I recognize that CW dates from the earliest days of radio, and that for some it's the most enjoyable part of the hobby. It will probably remain so for some time. But it's a technical hobby, for crying out loud, and Morse code is mule technology. Requiring it is akin to requiring that hams be able to recognize circuitry from a Zenith Trans-Oceanic.
Look, they were beautiful radios. But just because I like them is no reason to require you to like them.
Now we need to issue a QRT on the FCC itself...
(Hat tip: Glenn Reynolds)
Posted by Craig Ceely at December 17, 2006 07:37 PM