CW and the FCC

[LM Picard]

It is of course absolutely the wrong forum to post these opinions but I 
will do it anyway. 

Some of the feelings expressed here are shaped by the gear that people 
are fond of.   Certainly anyone using the newest stuff, with DSP filters 
and very stable, predicable frequency standards, can operate CW in a 
very spectrum-efficient way. 

I would like to see hard data the reflects the actual day-to-day usage 
of the HF bands.   I suspect that we will find that the bands are being 
used by old geezers, almost all male, operating phone modes.  

CW has very little appeal for anyone under 50, maybe 60.  With advances 
in technology it is increasing looking like a dinosaur to most of the 
world.  

It seems to me that with amazingly powerful and cheap computers, cell 
phones with all kinds of capabilities, not to mention the Internet, it 
is going to be very hard to interest young people in HF radio. 

Once the number of HF users goes down, it will be hard to defend the HF 
bands from BPL, truck telemetry or any other non-amateur use.  

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