I have opined in the past (although perhaps not on the blog directly) that CW is the reason I am still an active ham after almost 19 years…actually, I think a week from today marks the 19-year anniversary of passing elements 2 and 3A in the basement of the Stark County Sheriff’s office. CW permitted me to make interesting, intriguing, compelling QSOs that I simply could not complete on SSB with my meager station as a beginner.
Over the years, I have used this as the argument for retaining the Morse code testing requirement: Morse code proficiency gave newcomers the opportunity to make exciting DX contacts under all solar conditions (except disturbed, of course) and hook them on the hobby.
PSK31 was the first mode that challenged CW in that arena. I made a couple of PSK contacts almost 10 years ago now and decided it was harder than CW. So, I did not pursue it. Aside from making a half-hearted effort to get ARRL’s Triple Play Worked All States using only unassisted (no cluster, no RBN, no skeds) contest contacts, I haven’t really operated digital modes much and didn’t really understand why anyone would want to because CW is so much easier. I’ve seen dozens of JT65 posts by fellow AmateurRadio.com bloggers. And, about a year ago, I met Paul, N8HM, who lives in an apartment in DC. He’s very active on HF digital modes with a shoestring setup…and he’s very passionate about it. That’s when it clicked.
Digital modes are the new CW: the DX mode for the average ham. I must be slow!
I still think CW is way easier than digital QSOs, especially in contests and pileups: there is a certain amount of critical humanity (varying timing, sending speed, spacing, or calling frequency) that you can’t apply to cracking a digital pileup…or maybe I just haven’t figured it out yet. I guess I have years of Morse practice and shouldn’t expect digital to be easy just because the computer is doing the sending and decoding. But, I think I understand digital operators a little better after this revelation.
You guys are alright.
