I completely agree with Pete's take on this issue. However, I also
understand that Russian hams are technically blameless. If boycotted
in the DX contest, they would thus be paying a penalty for something
that is not of their doing.
That said, the devil is in the details. There are 40 million people in
the Ukraine. The way the huge Russian invasion is going, it's not
unlikely that thousands or even tens of thousands of Ukrainian
citizens are soon going be killed. Millions of other Ukrainians will
have theirs lives placed in turmoil, as will large numbers of
law-abiding Russian citizens. (The Russian stock market is already
down 35 percent.)
The reason this loss and disruption of lives is more than ordinary
political squabbling is because there no strategic or rational
explanation for it. The entire situation appears to be mostly an ego
trip of the Russian president, whose irrational behavior and mental
stability is increasingly being questioned. As Pete noted, the
nightmare will not end until the Russian people stand up to this man.
In that sense, making a point by boycotting Russian contesters in a DX
contest doesn't seem to be asking too much.
73,
Jim w8zr
Sent from my iPhone
> On Feb 24, 2022, at 9:24 AM, Pete Smith N4ZR <pete.n4zr@gmail.com> wrote:
>
> I have to demur. Government-to-government sanctions are one thing, but
> ultimately it will come down to the Russian people turning against Putin, and
> it's hard for me to understand why they shouldn't feel the cost of his
> transgressions in this as in other areas.
>
> 73, Pete N4ZR
> Check out the new Reverse Beacon Network
> web server at<http://beta.reversebeacon.net>.
> For spots, please use your favorite
> "retail" DX cluster.
>
>> On 2/24/2022 10:38 AM, Stan Stockton wrote:
>> 100% agreement with what Tree has said.
>>
>> 73...Stan, K5GO/ZF9CW
>>
>> On Thu, Feb 24, 2022 at 10:23 AM Tree <tree@kkn.net> wrote:
>>
>> I also need to respond to this sentiment:
>>
>> "it's more important at this moment to get the word out
>> to the Russian public that their leader's ruthless behavior is scorned
>> and despised by the majority of the world's people."
>>
>> Perhaps - but I believe Vladimir Putin really is receiving that
>> message
>> clearly already - and having some ham radio operators complain to
>> him will
>> not really concern him.
>>
>> This is a scary thing for everyone in the world - and the people
>> in Russia
>> are just as scared as we all are. Maybe the best way to get the
>> message
>> out to the Russian public is to engage with them where we can.
>>
>> Tree
>>
>> On Thu, Feb 24, 2022 at 7:17 AM Tree <tree@kkn.net> wrote:
>>
>> > Guys - I need to step in here.
>> >
>> > This is not what ham radio people do.
>> >
>> > The Russian ham that you are pretending to punish is not the person
>> > responsible for what is happening in Ukraine.
>> >
>> > Think about the situation if you were a USA ham - and some other ham
>> > decided not to work you because they did not like the decisions
>> someone in
>> > Washington had made.
>> >
>> > Throughout my ham career - I have enjoyed the opportunity to
>> meet people
>> > in places that I was taught were bad places and become to
>> understand that
>> > they were people just like me - and were perhaps more helpless
>> to control
>> > their government than I can control mine.
>> >
>> > We all have worked Russians over the years - and I bet almost
>> everyone
>> > here would be in the pileup if a station from North Korea came
>> on the air.
>> >
>> > I will always feel the best hope for humanity is to get to know
>> each other
>> > and understand each other's situation better and have some
>> understanding.
>> > Ham radio is one way to break down the political barriers and
>> get to know
>> > real people.
>> >
>> > I have kind of felt sorry for the stations currently using D1 as a
>> > prefix. They are just pawns in a chess game and through no
>> fault of their
>> > own, ended up in a situation where they couldn't get a license.
>> They came
>> > up with a work around that allowed them to get on the air. If I
>> was in
>> > their situation, I would probably do the same thing.
>> >
>> > If Vladimir Putin were a ham, I could understand you deciding
>> not to work
>> > him - but let's not pretend our friends who we have been working
>> over the
>> > years are responsible.
>> >
>> > I will not tolerate anything less from the members of this list.
>> >
>> > 73 Tree N6TR
>> >
>> >
>> >
>> >
>> >
>> > On Thu, Feb 24, 2022 at 5:46 AM Pete Smith N4ZR
>> <pete.n4zr@gmail.com>
>> > wrote:
>> >
>> >> Yup. Me too.
>> >>
>> >> 73, Pete N4ZR
>> >> Check out the new Reverse Beacon Network
>> >> web server at<http://beta.reversebeacon.net>.
>> >> For spots, please use your favorite
>> >> "retail" DX cluster.
>> >>
>> >> On 2/24/2022 8:03 AM, MU 4CX250B wrote:
>> >> > Good move, Mark. We all know the current assault on Ukraine
>> is not the
>> >> > fault of our many good Russian ham buddies, and while I know
>> we all
>> >> > wish them well, it's more important at this moment to get the
>> word out
>> >> > to the Russisn public that their leader's ruthless behavior
>> is scorned
>> >> > and despised by the majority of the world's people.
>> >> > 73,
>> >> > Jim w8zr
>> >> >
>> >> > Sent from my iPhone
>> >> >
>> >> >> On Feb 24, 2022, at 5:33 AM, Mpridesti via Topband<
>> >> topband@contesting.com> wrote:
>> >> >>
>> >> >>
>> >> >>> I plan to NOT work any Russian stations during the ARRL DX SSB
>> >> contest as
>> >> >>> I object to the in unprovoked war they started.
>> >> >>>
>> >> >>> Ukraine hams have already shut down.
>> >> >> Regards,
>> >> >>
>> >> >> Mark, K1RX
>> >> >>
>> >> >> _________________
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>> >>
>> >
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>>
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