On 11/02/2011 19:09, Ken Claerbout wrote:
> Who among us is surprised? Almost all of the new technology tools (SDR,
> chatroom, Spectran, etc.) while intriguing and fun to operate, can be used to
> make QSO's that would not otherwise be made. I personally have no interest
> in working DX that way. It removes some of the challenge that drew me to
> Topband in the first place. Sadly, it causes one to look at some
> achievements on the band with a far more skeptical eye too.
Very much agree.
If we can listen to the DX on SDR round the corner from him, why not
have low-power transmitters just around the corner, too?
Then I could sit in Europe and work strings of JAs or VKs or W6s all
day. That defeats the whole purpose of amateur radio, to me.
I don't think a 1½ minute delay in online SDR would be any problem for
someone using it for genuine test purposes. It's not hard to look at a
watch and see when the time comes for the signal to appear.
I don't like the DX cluster either. It may mean more people work the
DX, but it means the ordinary folk who spend their time carefully tuning
the band soon get jumped on by the big signals using the cluster.
I don't use the cluster for that reason. If I wanted to work DX on the
Internet, I could do that. Skype is pretty much 59 world-wide.
Keith
G3OIT and Grumpy Old Man
_______________________________________________
UR RST IS ... ... ..9 QSB QSB - hw? BK
|