Never fear USA - South Africa went code-free in February 2005, and has enjoyed a dramatic resurgence in Amateur Radio growth since, without any of the forecasted shambles occurring. Despite dire predictions of doom and gloom from several old-timers, the no-code hams have taken to HF with enthusiasm, and the vast majority have proved to be responsible and sensible operators.
Our route was however slightly different: Our restricted licence class (ZR prefix) had in the past only needed to complete a 12wpm CW test to upgrade to an unrestricted (ZS prefix) call, giving HF privileges (ZR licensees could operate only above 30MHz). There was only one written exam category. Under our new regulations a candidate writing his RAE qualifies for a ZR-prefix call, giving him access to limited portions of HF spectrum on 80,40,20,15 and 10m only (incidentally including the digital subsections!) with a limit of 100W. Upon completion of certain "assessments" the licensee can then upgrade to a ZS prefix, giving him unrestricted access to the HF bands (with a limit of 400W, max power allowed in South Africa). There are 5 assessment routes: Provide proof of 100 contacts (QSLs), provide proof of technical qualifications that include a radio-related subject, provide logged proof of community service using radio equipment, complete a homebrew project in the form of a working receiver, or complete a 5wpm CW test. Additionally before a licence is issued, the candidate is also tested on his/her ability to set up and operate an HF transceiver. The holders of ZR licences at the time of the promulgation of our new regulations were all required to undertake this assessment route in order to obtain ZS prefixes. Some elected to keep their ZR prefixes, as this rapidly became sought-after by the prefix hunters, but many chose the upgrade route, and are today pretty much indistinguishable from those old-timers who went the CW way - in fact in many cases they are proving to be far superior operators! I for one am an example of a n-coder that went the upgrade route: I had held a ZR call since 1985 (a whopping 20 years!!), having pottered around until 2001, when I became active on 6m from Johannesburg. I have a VUCC with a 200-grid endorsement, and over 300 grids worked. 74 countries confirmed on 6m (from a country with only 4 6m DXCCs issued EVER), plus the UKSMG Worked All Europe Award. I was the first South African to work WSJT JT44 mode digital into Europe (beating Hal ZS6WB to it by 1 day!!) and was one of the first group of WSJT operators in ZS-land. AO-40 satellite operation netted me 75 countries via satellite, and I had the pleasure of several RTTY and SSTV QSO's via AO-40. Yet despite this I was denied access to HF due to a CW test! Since the regulation changes in 2005 however, I have been very active on HF: I upgraded to my current call in July 2005 (after over 1500 QSOs under my ZR call, the vast majority in digital modes) and currently have 226 DXCC entities worked (209 confirmed, and around 180 worked in digital modes). Not bad for a no-coder eh? The real twist has been taking place the past few months; I have recently acquired a MicroHam MicroKeyer, with it's built-in Winkey. I decided to play around with CW decoding via the PC, and sending through the Winkey. Using MixW for the software, I have found that I have been working quite a few stations on CW recently - including the VU7RG, 5A7A and XT2C expeditions. Suddenly after some 22 years as a licenced ham I am beginning to develop an interest in CW - as after a turbulent few years with health troubles, financial troubles and other disasters my life is finally settling down to normality, I have begun to make plans to finally learn to decode CW by ear. Had the regulations not changed, I doubt if this would ever have happened. To all the codeless guys out there : I hope you enjoy HF as much as I have! To the old-timers: this is where you get to help the new guys become the type of hams we all hope they will become! The late John Hugo ZS2J (went SK a few weeks back) made a point of looking for the newcomers and welcoming them onto the air - he was my first QSO on 40m. It makes a big difference! 73 de Barry ZS2EZ (EX ZR2DX / ZR6DXB) KF26TA - Port Elizabeth,South Africa Member : PEARS, SARL, ARRL, SA AMSAT -----Original Message----- From: [email protected] [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] On Behalf Of John Champa Sent: 20 January 2007 06:52 AM To: [email protected] Subject: Re: [digitalradio] US Hams Codeless Feb 23 Danny, Yes, I have always thought that was a strange statement, too! My experience would cause me to write something more like: "...eliminates an unnecessary regulatory burden that keeps many otherwise technically well qualified individuals from enjoying the benefits of Amateur Radio." After all, the technical written exam is identical. Plus the day the announcement came out 6 highly qualified engineers at work decided they will now take the examination and get their licenses. It is something they had wanted to do long before college, but the Morse Code requirement kept them away. Besides, wouldn't we all rather be codeless than be clueless as are those Extra Class jerks on 80M??? (HI) 73, John K8OCL ----Original Message Follows---- From: "Danny Douglas" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> Reply-To: [email protected] To: <[email protected]> Subject: Re: [digitalradio] US Hams Codeless Feb 23 Date: Fri, 19 Jan 2007 20:19:08 -0500 "This change eliminates an unnecessary regulatory burden that may discourage current Amateur Radio operators from advancing their skills and participating more fully in the benefits of Amateur Radio," the FCC remarked in the Morse code R&O. B A L O N E Y SK Danny Douglas N7DC ex WN5QMX ET2US WA5UKR ET3USA SV0WPP VS6DD N7DC/YV5 G5CTB all DX 2-6 years each . QSL LOTW-buro- direct As courtesy I upload to eQSL but if you use that - also pls upload to LOTW or hard card. moderator [EMAIL PROTECTED] moderator http://groups.yahoo.com/group/DXandTalk ----- Original Message ----- From: "Radioguy" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> To: <[email protected]> Sent: Friday, January 19, 2007 6:07 PM Subject: [digitalradio] US Hams Codeless Feb 23 > > > Codeless Amateur Radio Testing Regime Appears Set to Begin February 23 > > Announce your digital presence via our DX Cluster telnet://cluster.dynalias.org Our other groups: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/dxlist/ http://groups.yahoo.com/group/themixwgroup http://groups.yahoo.com/group/contesting http://groups.yahoo.com/group/wnyar http://groups.yahoo.com/group/Omnibus97 Yahoo! Groups Links _______________________________________________________________________ This message has been scanned for viruses and dangerous content and is believed to be clean. 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