Excellent post... Cecil K5DL
Sent from my Verizon Motorola Smartphone On Aug 3, 2019 10:35 AM, [email protected] wrote: > > > "The dogs bark, but the caravan rolls on" -ancient proverb > > As I understand it, some of this discussion is based on the romantic idea > that we old timers had it tough but today it's all easy and without real > challenge. This charge is nothing new, so a little history might be in order. > The history of Ham Radio since the advent of the home computer has been the > gradual replacement of operator intervention with computer initiatives in our > operating activities. Let's look at some. > > FT8: > Is ultimately just another digital mode, the only real difference is that > more of the automation is built in from the start. But, in principal, any of > the digital modes (indeed any mode at all) can be made as automated as one > desires these days. For those under 45 (hi hi), to operate RTTY back in the > day required a thing called a Terminal Unit to translate the mark/space > signals to voltage levels to feed a Teletype machine (which was basically a > big, noisy, heavy duty typewriter). But that hasn't been the reality for RTTY > for a long time. RTTY is now as easy as downloading a program, only > marginally more difficult than operating FT8. After all, the packet cluster > can give you the who and where and the program tunes your radio to the proper > frequency. You press "send" until you get a reply (if you are working a rare > DX counter operating split there can be some more to it) and the computer > logs it after you make the contact and can even send the logging in to LOTW > for credit. > > DXing: > Originally required hours and hours in front of the radio, tuning and looking > for the DX. Now there were things like DX nets, and newsletters/bulletins and > the like to help a bit and DXpeditions were publicised in magazines and word > of mouth. But with the advent of the computer and packet radio, all that > changed. Decades ago, a friend of mine developed a computer program to track > your DX totals and generate mailing labels for the QSL's. He interfaced that > with the Packet and when a new coun... err... entity came on the air, his > computer would send "DX" (in CW, of course) and he could walk back to the > shack, work the counter and go back to the ball game. Quite a culture shock > for the guys still tuning around on their National HRO's. Now the DX cluster > is an entrenched reality along with Skimmer etc. No sitting in front of the > rig necessary. And QSLing in the day was a royal PITA, now you just print out > the labels and download the LOTW credits. > > Contesting: > There is a film (now video, produced by a NFL films dude!) from decades ago > on YouTube that shows the DX contest from the perspective of a bunch of the > Frankford Radio Club participants. Again, if you are not over 45 it may be a > bit of a mystery what's going on. There is no Packet cluster, so DX callouts > happened on 2m FM! And you will see lots of paper. They are Log Sheets (where > you wrote down your contacts) and Cross Check sheets (where you kept track of > you contacts by listing them alphabetically so you wouldn't work too many > duplicate contacts). After the contest, you would have to "redupe" your log > to try and catch dupes that got past in the heat of battle, this would take a > week or two of intermittent effort. And a fabulous talent for a contester to > have was a good level of call recall (hi hi), the more guys you rememberd you > worked the less you had to refer to the Cross Check sheet. Of course, all > this is gone, replaced by our computer running a program like N1MM (or CT in > th > e olden times). > > I could go on (but mercifully won't), the point is that this is all part of a > natural progression, an inevitable part of human innovation. To me, the guys > who really have a beef are the guys from after WW2 until the computer era. > You could argue that we have devalued their accomplishments (you can also > argue they had more fun, but that's another post). But I would argue that > everyone's accomplishments stand on their own according to their time, > circumstances and operating preferences. Hank Aaron didn't devalue Babe Ruth. > I would also argue that the world keeps turning and the caravan is > inexorable... > > 73, Kevin K3OX > > _________________ > Searchable Archives: http://www.contesting.com/_topband - Topband Reflector _________________ Searchable Archives: http://www.contesting.com/_topband - Topband Reflector
