[UK-CONTEST] Demise of CW as a comms medium?

[G3SXW]

Hello Peter,
What evidence? There is plenty of evidence that CW is growing in popularity, 
both in contests and DX-chasing. And why not? New technology and more modern 
modes will not replace CW. Those other modes call for different skills which 
are, in my view, much less satisfying for the operator.
Anyway, folks will not pass on to more modern modes just because they are 
there. We still walk or cycle or even ride horses when we could go by car; 
we still go fishing when fish could be bought in the shops etc etc.
Only time will decide who is the more right - but for the moment CW activity 
is increasing, not decreasing.
This may not be entirely apparent from listening to the bands because 
operating-practices are changing. For example in contests we are all getting 
more skilled, more snappy and using more modern equipment. So there appears 
to be fewer transmissions, less QRM, more free frequencies. As in AFS we are 
getting the impression that activity is down - yet the number of QSOs being 
made is not reducing. Indeed the biggest contest, CQ WW, grows every year in 
terms of number of stations participating, logs submitted and winning 
scores.
73 de Roger/G3SXW.


----- Original Message ----- 
From: "Peter Hobbs" <peter at tilgate.co.uk>
To: "UK Contest reflector" <uk-contest at contesting.com>
Sent: Wednesday, January 17, 2007 3:59 AM
Subject: [UK-CONTEST] Demise of CW as a comms medium?


> Having followed the related posts with interest, it's pretty clear that CW 
> as a means of communication is (with some honourable exceptions) now 
> largely perpetuated by those of us who grew up when it was an essential 
> tool for the owner of a modest station.  And yes, we really want to 
> encourage the younger generation to get involved.  But for what reason 
> other than to perpetuate the expertise many of us learned when we were at 
> school and which provides us with a nostalgic link to those days, rather 
> than as a logical medium for efficient communications in the future?  The 
> start of the decline was probably the introduction of SSB designs and 
> equipment in the late 1950s, which allowed a modest station access to 
> voice comms for the first time (try cracking a pile-up using AM with 100W 
> and a dipole).
>
> However, apart from the unique decoding ability of the human brain that 
> separates morse operators from the rest of the human race, CW has declined 
> even as an art form (remember Vibroplex?) as a result of the current 
> urgent need to do everything by computer.
>
> A declared aim of amateur radio is technological advancement in the field 
> of radio communications. There are now datamodes available that can 
> achieve communication at greater data rates, under lower noise levels and 
> with greater signal densities than on-off morse ever could.
>
> I was lucky to live near a RNV(W)R centre in my earlier youth that 
> actually PAID me at 15 to go along on Tuesday and Thursday evenings and 
> participate in the Wednesday on-the-air exercise, with a loan CR100 (with 
> CO/PA transmitter in the lid) thrown in.  They were happy and rewarding 
> days but they are long gone.
>
> As current datamodes are already so efficient that they must inevitably 
> replace CW when the ranks of the current protagonists are depleted, 
> shouldn't the HFCC, indeed the RSGB, develop a strategy to encourage an 
> equivalent level of expertise and common standards in these modes, in 
> addition to including them as an also-ran in the CC series?  I'm not 
> talking about plain old inefficient RTTY of course which has hardly moved 
> in the last 50 years and only exists through inertia.  After all anyone 
> with a PC has all that's needed to generate and decode the most 
> sophisticated modes and algorithms, but there is still something of a 
> "black art" aura that seems to surround the subject.
>
> As a life long CW operator I hope I'm wrong in the above analysis and the 
> mode will continue into the future as a major component of amateur radio 
> operation, but the evidence points otherwise.
>
> 73
> Peter G3LET
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