[Amps] Drivel

[Jim Brown]

On Sat,4/29/2017 11:09 AM, Mark Bitterlich wrote:
> But relying on CW is not going to get you killed. 

To evaluate your opinion (and it is nothing but opinion, based on a 
religious belief in CW), I'd like to know exactly what emergency 
communications operations you have been a part of in the last ten years, 
and exactly what your participation entailed. And I'm not asking about 
drills or training sessions, I'm talking about real emergencies, like 
tornadoes, hurricanes, floods, explosions, wild-land fires, severe 
storms, landslides, and earthquakes.

FACT: CW is a great mode, no question about its advantages over voice 
modes -- IF the operators on both ends are good at it.

FACT: CW is a USELESS mode if there's NOT an operator on BOTH ends who 
is good at it.

OPINION: The chances of there being an operator on an FM repeater who 
can copy CW are pretty slim. When I'm using VHF/UHF FM, I'm usually the 
only one.

OPINION: The chances of SSB ragchewers being competent in CW gets 
increasingly slim as the ham population ages. And most SSB ragchewers 
are there because they DON'T work cw.

73, Jim K9YC

Founding member CWOPS, #69