Art,
Boy, do we have different takes on the matter. When Ten-Tec started
internet-access radio it intrigued me, but something nagged at me. You
have nailed it, but from the opposite point of view.
DX-chasing requires, AND SHOULD REQUIRE, more than the purchase, or even
building, of equipment. It requires a long-term (read years, decades)
commitment to changing schedules: going to sleep early so you can get up
early; getting up in the nighttime to take a crack at an opening;
forsaking TV so you can be at the rig when the rare one shows; or
modifying one's vacation schedule. It may require living with a longer
commute so you can be where the covenants, electrical noise, and terrain
are suitable to DXing. It may require that you pay extra attention to
the family whenever the opportunity arises, so that you can steal some
time for yourself when the DXpedition pops up. It may require taking a
rig and antenna on vacation so you can give it a shot from there. It
may require that you festoon your castle with unsightly wires so you can
be on one more band. And being a DX chaser may even require that you
say at times: "Well, I coulda haddem, but I just couldn't get back to
the shack'" when more important stuff (also called real life) comes up.
It's just a hobby, not a way into heaven.
As for my own purity, it is sorely lacking. In the past I worked a lot
of DX on nets, and now I wish I hadn't. I had the chance to work a rare
one with my call from someone else's shack, but decided against it. I
admit to having been monomaniacal about DXing, but the view from a step
back reveals that the chase is more important than the catch. I won't
take that hell-bent, outta-my-way path again.
I hold no ill will against those who choose to use internet access to
their rigs, but I am sticking with my Omni VI.
73 and good DXing Art,
Jan, KX2A
Art Searle W2NRA wrote:
Hi Rob,
Ok, I can see your point but what if it was your station and you couldn't be
there for something important.
In the 90s the ARRL created a bunch of new DXCC entities, most in the
Pacific. Before I retired I used to take 4 vacations a year (I worked for a
public school district - your tax dollars hard at work). I can't tell you
how many DXpeditions I missed because I was on vacation. One of those DXCC
Entities is going to be up the end of April. I moved my fly fishing trip to
the beginning of May. If the DXpeditions is delay by as little as a week
I'll miss another "new one". If I get my Omni VII in time I at least have a
chance to work a new one from my own station, on Long Island, using my own
rig and antennas while I'm on vacation in western Maryland.
I'm also kinda looking forward to sitting out on the patio with my laptop
and playing radio.
73 Art W2NRA
"Keep to the code!"
http://w2nra.com/
|