One of my GLD members forwarded the following letter for Down Under to me. Interesting, if nothing else. Indicative of things we all hope will come both there and for us Yanks as well. Of course, we need to be charitable toward the writer who appears to use the Queen’s English rather than American.

73,

Jim W.

-----------------------

Hello Group

> >

> > Can I stick my bib in from across the pond?

> >

> > You may or may not be aware that I am the Course Manger for the

> > Radio and Electronics School. I handle distribution of enrollments,

> > courses, pairing

> > facilitators with students and fielding general questions relating to

> > the

> > courses we have and Amateur Radio in general.

> >

> > On January 1st 2004 the Australian Communications Agency (the FCC

> > equivalent) abolished the Morse code requirement for all classes of

> > licence. Effectively we now have only 2 licence classes Novice and

> > Unrestricted.

> >

> > Last calendar year the R&E school had 565 enrollments consisting of

> > 40% new hams (NAOCP) and 60% upgrading to unrestricted (AOCP)

> > theory. At this time

> > there were 5 classes of licence, 3 of which required Morse code. Since

> > Morse has been dropped, enrollments for new hams has jumped to well

> > over

> > 75% with 25% being for upgrades.

> >

> > Further, we currently have 72 students on the books for this

> > calendar year

> > - and today is only the 22nd of January! This represents a 100%

> > increase on last year. From this I think you can see that the

> > abolition of Morse code

> > has had a huge effect on new comers to the hobby. With many new

> > applicants

> > stating on there enrollment applications words to the effect of...

> >

> > "I have always had an interest in Amateur Radio but the Morse code

> > always put me off... " Many further adding

> >

> > "When I get licensed I want to learn and use Morse code...."

> >

> > This shows that there IS an interest in Morse code but people do not

> > want to be forced to do it. They want to learn at their own pace and

> > ENJOY it. I

> > might add that Morse as a mode has not been abolished, just the exam

> > requirement. However the Morse exams are still available to those that

> > want

> > to do it, for what ever reason.

> >

> > To be perfectly honest, I think that pirates using the CW sub bands

> > (in any

> > mode) are more of a threat to ALL radio amateurs.

> >

> > 73

> >

> > Adam Jaroszuk VK4KSS

> > Course Manager

> > Radio and Electronics School

> > E-mail: adam@radioelectronicschool.com

> > WWW: http://www.radioelectronicschool.com

---------------------->

AMATEUR RADIO: The only fail-safe communications system in the world.

ARRL: The reason Amateur Radio is!

Jim Weaver, K8JE, Director, Great Lakes Division ARRL

5065 Bethany Rd., Mason, OH 45040-9660, Tel. 513-459-0142, E-mail k8je@arrl.org