As an old traffic hound (does anyone remember ROOA?) nearly 50 years ago, I regularly worked and ran CW traffic nets, and made BPL (500 messages/month, not originations) at least a half dozen times. What we call traffic nets today are a bad joke compared to those nets. Today, hams are simply poorly trained (even untrained) to handle traffic, because real traffic nets are few and far between. Not surprising -- there's rarely a use for them in today's world until something big happens.
In those days, when something big happened, hams were prepared, because we had the ongoing training and discipline of REAL traffic nets. Today, that is simply not the case. How many on this list know, off the top of their head, the proper format for a piece of traffic? How many have even HANDLED a piece of traffic in proper format (or heard it being handled)? I find the assertion that SSB is easier copy in the presence of aurora hard to believe. I've worked AU on 6 meters since 1958, and I can tell you that CW works FAR FAR better than SSB under those conditions. Any decent CW op can make pretty good copy of a heavily distorted AU signal that's reasonably above the noise. The reality is that a marginal antenna and low power has a far better chance of solid communications using CW with a good op than an equally good op on SSB. The difference is operator training, not technology. But consider this -- I've worked only a bit of PSK31, but it seems to me that it has much of the advantage of CW for communications with low power and/or marginal antennas. A PSK31 rig is VERY easy to put together in an emergency package -- all it takes is a radio, an antenna, a laptop, Simon Brown's excellent free PSK31 software, and a pair of interface cables that anyone can make with cables they buy at Radio Shack and modify to fit their rigs. Such a rig would use minimal battery power, because traffic could be transmitted in short bursts, and uses standard components. All you need to stay on the air for a long time is a means of recharging your batteries. It also doesn't depend on repeaters, which could be down when they are most needed. Each station in an emergency area could simply work directly to one or more assigned partners outside the affected area, and that partner dumps the traffic onto conventional channels (the internet, etc.). Jim Brown K9YC (ex-W9NEC, W8FNI) _______________________________________________ Elecraft mailing list Post to: Elecraft@mailman.qth.net You must be a subscriber to post to the list. Subscriber Info (Addr. Change, sub, unsub etc.): http://mailman.qth.net/mailman/listinfo/elecraft Help: http://mailman.qth.net/subscribers.htm Elecraft web page: http://www.elecraft.com
