On Mon, Sep 23, 2013 at 02:11:37AM -0000, John Geiger wrote:
>
> Don, NL7CO and myself were having this exact discussion this afternoon.
> Working California from Oklahoma on 20m is common, so it isn't very
> exciting. I know, I should always marvel over the magic of radio, but
> still.......
>
> Now working California from Oklahoma on 2m is thrilling! I have done it a
> few times, and it usually is my biggest radio thrill of the year.
Yes, working California to Oklahoma is thrilling on 2 meters. But
not because it is hard to do but because it does not happen everyday -
it is a relatively rare event. But it can be done with not very much
hardware and with good signals if the band is open.
I have worked Colorado on 2m Es from the car with less than 100 watts
and a 5/8 wave vertical with huge signals. I have worked Florida on 2
meters with a 2 ele quad six feet of the ground and 100 watts on tropo
with great reports.
These contacts are not hard, they are just not everyday experiences.
If they were we would all have worked all states and always have huge
scores in the VHF contests.
Contest scores go down when conditions are poor in HF contests.
My point was that there is nothing harder about making contacts on VHF
that makes it special. It is just different.
A number of years ago we had a great weekend at W5KFT in the June VHF
contest. There was tropo and Es on 144 Mhz. We managed to work close
to 70 grids on 2 meters that contest. Normally from this part of Texas
20 to 30 grids would be a very good weekend. (without EME/MS)
In this last contest K5QE using some tropo and EME and MS and his
great station was able to work 90 grids on 2 meters. That is
fantastic. Well done.
http://lists.contesting.com/_3830/2013-09/msg01127.html
The one rule change that K5QE would like to make as I understand it is
that he would like to be able to call CQ on the Internet and take
answers on the radio. It seems like calling CQ on the radio should be
enough. Yes, I have no doubt that you can make more contacts if you
call CQ on the Internet and also look for others calling CQ on the
Internet. I just want to make sure everyone understands. Is that
what you want to do?
I still find radio to be magic. I can take a radio and an antenna and
I can make contacts with people all over the place. I do not need to
call the the phone or IM them on the Internet or send out tweets. I
just get on the radio and make noise. And there are no wires
attaching the two of us. There have been some articles in the press
of late about ham radio and how people find this aspect cool. The
idea that you do not need infrastructure that is maintained by "others" to
make contacts and pass information. To people that have grown up in a
world of cell phones and the Internet this is amazing.
Think about that for a moment.
The WWW as we know it today started a before 1995. Lets just take
1995 as a starting point. That is 18 years ago. There are 18 year old
people that (and really maybe 23 or 25 year olds) that have always had
the Internet and cell phones. Those things are just a fact of life.
For them the Internet is just another utility in their lives. Just
like a land line telephone is for everyone of you reading this today.
It is likely something you take for granted. You have never thought
anything of picking up the phone and calling someone. The Internet is
the same for many many people. So you can IM with someone anywhere on
earth - big deal.
But the radio - wow - you mean that you can just put a signal out and
make contacts out in the world? That is still cool.
I just think it is less cool if you have to use the telephone or the
Internet to enable the contact to happen. It no doubt makes it easier
but is it really the magic of radio anymore?
--
George Fremin III - K5TR
geoiii@kkn.net
http://www.kkn.net/~k5tr
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