a question for du ham radio operators.

[AllaN01Bear]

do any of u know if the old novice sub bands are still being used . also have heard that teting is replaceing voive . true / false . we have had texting for years . radio teletype and other such mods .thanks.

[cloudbase]

1. The novice sub bands are certainly in use.

Novices were limited to that part of the spectrum, but anybody with a general or above could also use them. There will probably be quite a bit of action tonight as it's straight key night, and many ops use their old novice boat anchor rigs.

I'm a paddles guy, but I'll blow the dust off the straight key for tonight.

Don't know about texting replacing voice, but hf ssb is pretty active. I'm strictly a cw op.

[Yonnie3]

3. CW was my mode of choice

Hung out at 7.015 +/- mostly. I even ran CW mobile. Ah the good ole days.

[cloudbase]

5. I can relate.

I couldn't wait to upgrade from novice so I could put a mic in my hands. Once I did, I couldn't understand what the big deal was, so I went back to CW. That 25 kHz on the low end of the bands was plenty of incentive to get the extra.

The mic that came with my rig has never been taken out of its plastic bag.

i'll be on for SKN tonight.

[Yonnie3]

6. Yep

I hated learning code, but once on the air I liked it. I went from novice to extra with a very brief stop at advanced because the examiners didn't have the extra written test. I handed in my 25 wpm copy and didn't answer the questions because I had perfect copy. The examiner was impressed.

I need to get some wire up and dust off the rigs.

73

[orangecrush]

4. Just came off of 10 meters

And SSB is very active.

I have great respect for CW ops such as yourself.

Amateur radio would not exist if it weren't for the early CW operators.

I have the code study CD's from Gordon West for 5 wpm, guess I'll have to get off my lazy butt and work with them again.

Boat anchors - I have a very nice NC-183D National that I really enjoy.

All I need is a Viking Ranger to pair with it.

[Yonnie3]

2. The novice subbands are still there

I'm not very active but when I tune around there I hear RTTY and other digital modes not permitted for novices. Higher class operators are permitted these modes there. I do hear the occasional slow CW op. I'm talking of 80, 40 and 15 meter bands.

I might be out of date on the rules.