Steve, many thanks for the info regarding VU/remote receive contacts. I, like many others have spent many hours listening for the VU stations and I would have been very disappointed to find out that it would have been a half QSO as you described it, so I will spend more time doing other things. It is not my prerogative to preach this or that but I wish that we, as a group of interested 160M advocates, could re-instate a working set of DX windows for Asia and Europe. If you consider the outlook for DX stations in remote areas they have very little chance of their signal breaking through the loud cacophony of stations in highly populated regions. I have lost count of the number of times I can hear DX underneath US stations but can't respond for fear of causing upset. Just last night I was QSX for EX8M and a W6 asked if freq was clear, I immediately replied that yes there was DX on freq, he started calling CQ despite my response. If we want DX stations to keep trying to make contacts then we need to at least keep a frequency window clear for them to flourish.
The ever increasing use of computer derived QSOs is here to stay but like you I find it less than satisfying having spent so many years developing skills that are being challenged by software not by other by people.. Thanks again for your post. Dave, AA0RS _________________ Topband Reflector Archives - http://www.contesting.com/_topband
