Excellent post...
Cecil
K5DL
Sent from my Verizon Motorola Smartphone
On Aug 3, 2019 10:35 AM, kolson@rcn.com 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
>
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