The events of September 11th 2001 demonstrated this perfectly. Amateur Radio Operators volunteered their services for the greater good of their community, following a tradition selfless of public service established at the very beginnings of Amateur radio. Amateur Radio is not restrained or governed by cultural, political, racial or religious differences and is the better for it.

As I said earlier, my desire to ditch the Morse key was, as it turned out, just an idle threat. As I used it more and more it became the most enjoyable part of my Amateur Radio operating. So much so that last year, 2001, I was appointed to the growing team of volunteer Morse Code examiners in the London area. We, as a team, are entrusted with carrying out the 5 and 12 word per minute Morse tests for the RA (Radio Authority) under the auspices of the RSGB (Radio Society of Great Britain, the UK National Society which looks after the interests of all UK Radio Amateurs). However, that said, I have never stopped learning about the code and Amateur Radio in general. Morse code maybe the oldest "mode" used in wireless communication but is no less relevant today and it is certainly not dying!

Here's the shack, please note that there is no new equipment in it! All the equipment is "second user" but it has been selected for it's performance as opposed to it's "newness". Yes, there's also a computer, which is also , by today's standard, quite dated. Nonetheless for that it functions perfectly well for all the duties I ask of it. The shack is equipped for both HF and VHF operation on all modes including slow and fast scan television and the new digital mode PSK31.

On the left in the main picture above is the main “HF” radio, a venerable but slightly dated Ten-Tec Corsair II. It was built in the USA by the Ten-Tec company of Tennessee and was one or their finest products. Designed to be operated on all the HF Amateur Bands it's downside is that there is no general coverage receive facility, however, there being no such thing as a free lunch, the benefit of not having general coverage receive is far outweighed by the individual band filters at the antenna input. A common trait with many of the modern Japanese manufacturers offerings is a design optimised for phone operation with CW as an afterthought, Ten-Tec however have always designed for both phone and CW operation, offering a radio that operates on both modes equally well because it was specifically designed for both modes. Also, there's no noisy computer inside the radio so the amount of internally generated hash is kept to a minimum. The small box to the main radio's right is the outboard second VFO, essential for working the DX stations who insist on working “split” (more of that later). The radio on the far right is another Ten-Tec, this one a Century 21, CW only transceiver. Above the Century 21 and to the right of the monitor is an Ameritron AL811 linear amplifier, which I have to admit is seldom used but is nonetheless useful when a bit of “oomph” is needed to keep a regular shed on ‘phone. As most of my operating is done on the bands with power levels at less than 5 watts the amplifier may seem something of an indulgence but there are times when it makes for comfortable communication with the regular skeds.