Subj : Re: radio check To : DARYL STOUT From : Cougar428 Date : Sat Feb 04 2023 06:31:00 -=> Quoting Daryl Stout to Cougar428 <=- Hi Daryl - thanks for your reply! DS> while a CW QSO was going on in the background. During the conversation DS> with other hams, he interrupted with "Hang on a minute"...then reached DS> over, and starting sending CW to the other ham on the frequency. When DS> he was done, he said "Sorry about that...I had to reply!!". I saw this DS> with my own eyes!! We were amazed that he could multi-task like that. This person does sound amazing! I bet they loved the hobby! When I had to copy, I had to listen carefully to the one stream coming in or I would miss characters. This was also my primary job. There were many operators who concentrated on one signal at at time. DS> Even though in the US, when the FCC dropped the Morse Code DS> requirement (first dropping the 13 and 20 WPM CW exam on April 15, DS> 2000...then doing away with the 5 WPM CW exam on Feb. 23, 2007), it has DS> caused a surge in folks wanting to learn and use CW. They were now DS> doing it because they WANTED to, and NOT because they HAD to. Again, these people are part of the group who love the hobbby. I listen in on the bands, and there are alot of great conversations about the hobby or equipment in general. Seems that most of them are doing because they are really interested in it. I still love to listen, but don't think I would have the patience for all the equipment. DS> over the air. The four letters they highlighted formed the S expletive DS> (So Happy It's Thursday ). I thought "I'll be d@mned!!"...but when DS> you looked at the dot and dash pattern, it made perfect sense!! Yeah, nine dits and a dah in order of course. In the service, I mostly copied groups of characters, but would occasionally capture a word (which really made me sit up). I would copy, others would interpret. DS> STERNLY ADMONISHED them, saying "You boys need to watch your language!! DS> I teach CW at the Naval Academy across the street!!", and walked out!! When I trained, none of the instructors were female. They would get you started, but the training was a tape turned on and transmitted to all the earphones at each intercept station. Testing was individual and not as a group. DS> Now, there are programs where you can send and receive CW at your DS> computer, without even having a rig or a keyer to do it with. Yeah, once I got out of the service - I found there wasn't much call for commercial operators unless it was in the maritime industry. Seems crazy I learned all that stuff and outside of the services there wasn't any call for it. DS> On another note, I never took a typing course in high school. But, DS> by being a BBS Sysop since December, 1990, I became a touch typist. The DS> SPCK (Society For The Prevention Of Cruelty To Keyboards) has me on DS> their 10 most wanted list...for typing the letters off the keys on the DS> keyboard, from hitting the keys so hard!! I learned touch typing as a part of the MOS training. Crazy thing about the services. They spent all that time training me to copy morse and had me specialize in Chinese cut characters only to send me to Europe where I didn't copy any Chinese. Crazy when you think about it. Crazy my fingers can still hit the keys when I hear the code too. Thanks Daryl! Cougar .... Kiss my ASCII ___ Blue Wave/QWK v2.20 --- þ Synchronet þ Vertrauen þ Home of Synchronet þ [vert/cvs/bbs].synchro.net .