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This is the end of an era.
Last week the FCC removed the Morse code requirement for obtaining Amateur Radio licenses.
(Full story is here.)
I personally think this is a mistake, but it does conform to an international trend to remove the Morse code requirement, which is seen as a barrier to obtaining a license. The battle within this country has been smoldering for years, with very lively (and rude) discussions on various internet forums among ham radio operators.
When I was in high school in the '50s, 13 words/minute was required to obtain a General class license. And, it is true, that was an inhibitor, so I went for the more restricted Technician Class license, which, ultimately, I never used. But when I reapplied for a license some 40 years later in 2000, the requirement was 5 w/m, which I passed after some minimal practice, giving me the General license I now own.
And, I'll admit that in the six years I've been a General class, I've never once used my Morse code, have never had a CW (continuous wave, which is how hams refer to Morse code operations) contact. But that's not to say that I've never wanted to. One of my resolutions last year was to beef up my Morse code capabilities and start making CW contacts. I even bought myself a Morse "key" like the one pictured above.
But doing CW requires lots of practice. It's not just learning how to recognize the letters of the alphabet and the numbers, but also the various shorthand symbols and protocols for handling a good CW contact. The advantages are that at times when radio-atmospheric conditions are bad for voice communication (where noise makes it difficult to hear human speech), you may still be able to hold a "conversation" over CW. I've always intended to do this, but never got around to going deeply into bringing my Morse code speed up to something reasonable like 13w/m (which is about one character per second). And, by now, my Morse capabilities have withered away from disuse.
Communicating via Morse code requires a great deal of concentration. When I was practicing for the exam, and trying to listen to live CW conversations on the radio, I found myself entering a world of hyper-consciousness that we rarely if ever enter. Everything else drops away and your mind is focused entirely on the dits and dahhs entering your ears. Miss one character and you have to fight not to panic and to readjust to the next set of letters. But actually this is really good exercise for the brain, especially as we age this exercise is really beneficial.
Still, there are many radio operators who use Morse code, even though it is virtually obsolete. But in extreme conditions, CW might be the only way to communicate. So it would seem to me to still be a worthwhile training to have. So my goal to achieve a conversational facility with Morse code is still on the table.
If you're interested in finding what Morse code is all about, start here: http://www.arrl.org/FandES/ead/learncw/
And if you're interested in hearing what a CW conversation sounds like, here are a some as mp3 files that should play in iTunes or any other mp3 player:
