[TenTec] TenTec Digest, Vol 48, Issue 40

[JAMES HANLON]

Carl wrote:
  (The Army's) conclusion was that everyone could learn morse code to 25 wpm.  

  And Geoff wrote before that: If you think that morse code is easy to learn, try teaching it to a
  > learning disabled person.

  I was an active VE for a long time and I regularly gave the code tests.  In most cases people could pick up 5 wpm code in only a little time.  I remember one college-age young man and woman who had taught themselves the code at 5 wpm in about ten days of practice together.  But I also remember one fellow who was probably learning disabled who I know studied code like mad for months at a time.  He had memorized his code tapes, but he could not begin to copy my 5 wpm test.  I hope that he got a codeless Tech when they became available, and I hope that he upgrades now.  

  Jim, W8KGI

  ps:  One unhappy fact about Amateur Radio is that the average age of licensees is much higher today than it was when we old-timers got into the hobby, in my case as a Novice in 1952.  Just go to any swapfest or hamfest and try to find the youngsters - they are very few and far between and well hidden amongst the gray and the balding.  If Amateur Radio is going to continue into the future, it will have to find some way of attracting a new group of technically-oriented young people into it ranks.  Hopefully, dropping the code as a requirement will remove one impediment to that process.

  Jim