One of the very best things about Ham radio is how mindbogglingly huge the tent is ^_^
de KX2CW Joan Darmok and Jalad at Tanagra, said Piglet. Shaka, when the walls fell, said Pooh. > On Jul 3, 2018, at 14:11, Bill Frantz <[email protected]> wrote: > > I can't resist. > > My accomplishments: I have a DXCC with 150+ LotW confirmed entities. I have > over 100 entities on both digital and CW, less on voice. I have a triple play > WAS. I have 5 contacts with KH1/KH7Z in their log, 2 CW, 2 FT8, and 1 SSB. > (I'm missing RTTY.) I'm active in ARES/RACES, and like to rag chew, either on > the local repeaters, or with PSK31. I'm trying to be a well rounded ham. > > I look at FT8 as another step in station automation. > > Back when I started, in the early 1960s, it was normal to have separate > transmitters and receivers. Frequently people would have to manually switch > the antenna between the two. Now we have full break in with CW. That's an > advance in station automation. > > We used to keep logs on paper, now many of us keep them on a computer > reducing the chance for error in details like frequency and time. FT8 carries > it a step further by building a log entry which includes the call, grid and > signal reports. That's an advance in station automation. > > We used to scan the bands by turning the big knob to locate other stations. > Now we have spotting networks and panadapters. That's an advance in station > automation. > > When one station wanted to call another, it had to transmit for a long enough > time so the other station could find him. CQs were long for the same reason. > Now we can change to his listening frequency and make a call. Many people use > this technique for working DX pileups. FT8 makes it even more automatic by > highlighting all messages that include your call sign. That's an advance in > station automation. > > Where do I come down in all of this? I'm all over the place. In CW contests, > I operate unassisted because I want to improve my CW skills, and getting the > calls from a spot or decoder doesn't help me toward this goal. When working > as part of a contest team, I'm happy using everything that is legal for our > entry category. When trying to work rare DX, I'm quite happy running power. I > just want to put out a clean signal and not be too obnoxious to other hams. > > I've heard a lot of comment about various contest rules being too automated > or requiring facilities that are not available to everyone. For example > contests that provide real-time score tracking. Here I think we should let > 1000 flowers bloom. Sure, enjoy Straight Key Night (SKN) and bring out your > boat anchor and old paper log book. But also have contests where contesters > and an audience can keep track of the scores in real time. Some people can't > do CW and sit SKN out. Others may not have the Internet connectivity needed > for the real-time contest. In the old days, many hams did not have a Teletype > machine for RTTY contests and had to forgo RTTY contacts. > > Do what you enjoy. Ham radio is a very big tent. > > 73 Bill AE6JV > > --------------------------------------------------------------------------- > Bill Frantz | Re: Computer reliability, performance, and security: > 408-356-8506 | The guy who *is* wearing a parachute is *not* the > www.pwpconsult.com | first to reach the ground. - Terence Kelly > > ______________________________________________________________ Elecraft mailing list Home: http://mailman.qth.net/mailman/listinfo/elecraft Help: http://mailman.qth.net/mmfaq.htm Post: mailto:[email protected] This list hosted by: http://www.qsl.net Please help support this email list: http://www.qsl.net/donate.html Message delivered to [email protected]
