On 5/18/22 12:19 PM, Wes wrote:
The future of DXpeditions FT8 and
https://ncdxc.org/wp-content/uploads/2021/05/IDXC2021-15May-07-RIB.pdf
Or as I would put it, DXing RIP.
well, more that there's nowhere left to DX to that's actually
accessible. The whole DX entity thing is kind of
political/philosophical - How big a rock sticking up counts as an
entity, and does it have to be above water level all the time.
I think there is great potential for alternate forms of DX expeditions
beyond getting the entities. Checking off countries (DXCC) is just an
easy (and long honored) list.
It is difficult to find such challenges that are easy to explain, and
don't devolve into a series of increasingly fine distinctions at the
corners of the rules. I will say that in other contesting (e.g.
motorsports) there's a long tradition of exploring corners of the
rules. There's a limit on the fuel tank size, but (at one time) no
limit on the diameter of the fuel line.
There will be pride in various aspects - Someone who built their own
gear might be distinguished from "appliance operators" (a
semi-perjorative term) - Sitting in front of the actual radio, showered
by the sparks from the rotary spark gap - as opposed to sitting in a
control room at some distance.
I look forward to contests and quests (DX-CC and its ilk are more quests
than contests) that reward cleverness - setup time, portability, energy
efficiency. Looking at the folks in the club at JPL, there's a whole
lot of interest in DX contacts with portable stations (we're in the LA
Basin, and it's noisy, and hard to put up big antennas). The appeal of
grinding down the DX entity list is limited, since there's an advantage
to "time on the air" - all those guys who started in the 1960s have
already accumulated all the easy ones, and had longer to work the
obscure ones.
On 5/18/2022 11:45 AM, Pete Smith N4ZR wrote:
Given how much operating is being done these days using complex
remote stations, it strikes me that a 10x10 hut at the base of the
tower, with everything in there but the operator end, is entirely
feasible and not even that expensive. There are wifi extenders on
the market that certainly could reach that far, and it wouldn't take
many copper runs for RF, rotators and other control circuits to far
exceed the cost.
73, Pete N4ZR
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