My son is an avid birdwatcher. As his understudy, I've learned the names of the birds that hang out in our yard and gather at local wetlands.
On a recent walk we saw one of our favorites, an American kestrel, a small raptor that terrorizes lizards and mice in the foothills on both sides of the San Francisco Bay. The bird's coloration is a surprising mix of blue, brown, orange, yellow, and white, adorned with an array of black dots. Finding a kestrel in the wild is like stumbling upon a rare gem, lying on the ground. The bird reminded me that when I was a kid, I often hunted for gems of a different sort: DX. I was a novice, and in the early 1970s, novices were limited to working DX Of The First Kind. CW. Like brightly colored birds, each CW signal arriving from a distant land was unique. Several factors were involved. In those days most ops used bugs or straight keys, so each operator had an identifiable fist. Rigs were not as stable as they are now, yielding timbres with a motley mix of buzz, drift, and chirp. Add fading and noise to the mix, and you had no shortage of audible intrigue. In fact -- trust me on this one -- RST reports haven't always ended with a dependable "9." I once gave out an RST of 332. I'll never forget that poor soul's chaotic whoop, best described as a singular blend of yodel and kazoo. Over time I became something of a CW pathologist, keenly aware of each station's affliction, including my own. These variations were useful. You could tell who you'd already worked. If you were a regular on the novice bands, you'd even get to know fellow travelers by their frequencies, since many, like me, were "rock-bound" -- slaves to a handful of crystals. VFOs were starting to make an appearance in novice gear...but see "chirp," above. Now, in 2021, the chirp is gone. CW signals still have many distinguishing traits, though. These include speed, keying weight, the operator's affectations and favored prosigns, and direction-specific propagation anomalies. Here's where we stretch the central metaphor to just about max. If randomly occurring CW signals on our bands are creatures of the wild, then...are FT8 stations the occupants of an urban zoo? Don't get me wrong: It's a pleasant place, with free tram rides, open 24 hours a day. The diversity of species is unprecedented. But imagine, on a given day, that you've sampled the zoo's exotic offerings, memorized the brochure, bought the t-shirt, and partaken of the sumptuous snack bar. What next? Take a walk on the wild side. Yank the cord and jump off the tram at an unmarked stop. Hop the fence. Work your way down the unpaved trail from the upper mesa to the open savannah, then sit on the ten-foot wall and dangle your feet over the edge. Welcome to the ecosystem of beings who are free to roam. They may be camouflaged, blending into the background. And if you listen carefully, you'll hear a hundred variations on their timeless song...CQ. Wayne N6KR ______________________________________________________________ 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]
