I was shooting for somewhat interesting, so it's nice to hear that I made it
all the way to semi-interesting!
Mark, I am not sure why you felt compelled to defend your software expertise,
but I don't think anyone intended to demean you in any way. If it came off that
way, I apologize.
Now I have worked new countries on RTTY with my IC-7300 untethered to a
computer. All it took was a) tune to the frequency of the DX cluster callout b)
push message buttons until I worked the station c) Log it. So someone with your
level of expertise surely would agree that that process with todays technology
could be reduced to one button push.
Further, since our computers can tune our radios, access DX cluster callouts,
operate skimmer for more stations, decode any digital mode (and for that
matter, CW and through voice recognition, SSB), switch our antennas, turn our
rotors, access our DXCC records, interface with propagation software and real
time solar indices, log the contacts, send the results to LOTW and print labels
for QSL's, in principal, the station can be automated to any degree the
software designer desires and has the chops to implement.
Not to say that would be more fun. In fact, when computer contest logging came
along I wasn't a big fan. But the world went on and now hardly anyone would
(gulp) PAPER LOG! I would rather work CW, but I will work SSB and FT8 when it
suits me.
Now regarding your baseball comment I feel on more solid ground. The game of
baseball in Ruth's and Aaron's day was almost night and day different. In fact,
Ruth had to play most of his games in the daytime summer heat, Aaron played
most of his games at night for most of his career. And Ruth didn't have to face
any Afro-American pitchers no matter how good they were (for obvious reasons).
In Aaron's day, the balls were tighter and more consistently manufactured, the
gloves larger (improving defensive efficiency) and the bats had thinner handles
(allowing higher bat speeds). In addition, the fields were better maintained
(and in some cases, had artificial turf) and the era of dedicated relief
pitchers had arrived (in Ruth's day, relief pitchers were generally washed up
starters only used in desperation). I could go on, but no one seriously
interested thinks you can directly compare the records of players in different
eras. And a large contributor to this was technology, like the chang
es in Ham Radio are.
As far as your Bathroom comment, I have known guys who could do that while
working a CW contest with the addition of a low-tech cup, hi hi.
73, Kevin K3OX
----- Original Message -----
From: Mark K3MSB <mark.k3msb@gmail.com>
To: kolson@rcn.com
Cc: topband@contesting.com
Sent: Mon, 05 Aug 2019 17:56:34 -0400 (EDT)
Subject: Re: Topband: 160
Semi-Interesting post, but not really applicable to the issue at hand.
>>
To me, the guys who really have a beef are the guys from after WW2 until the
computer era
I have 4 patents in software engineering. I've been doing software since
about 1978 when I worked as a research assistant in my undergrad years. I'd
be delighted to put my experience in software engineering and computers next to
yours or anyone else's on this list, but I'm pretty sure it's quite beyond the
button-monkey level of knowledge required to use FT-8.
>>
Hank Aaron didn't devalue Babe Ruth.
No he didn't, but I suspect he tried VERY hard to beat his record. Both Babe
Ruth and Hank Aaron used a bat, ball, and gloves. That was a pretty level
playing field. Perhaps one day we'll have robot ball players mixed in with
humans. Do yo think that will fly? Of course, closer to home, we're now
seeing where transgender issues are effecting competitive sports.
Competition needs to be equal, and there's nothing to prevent different levels
of competition, but equality and fairness must exist within the same level.
As I mentioned in a related post while I was /HH6 in May, my FT-8 oriented
friend initiated an FT-8 sequence, went to the bathroom, and after coming out
pointed out he made a QSO while in the bathroom. He specifically did that to
show me it could be done. And FT-8 people want respect for that? Sorry
Charlie, not from me.
Mark K3MSB
On Sat, Aug 3, 2019 at 11:36 AM <kolson@rcn.com> wrote:
"The dogs bark, but the caravan rolls on" -ancient proverb
As I understand it, some of this discussion is based on the romantic idea that
we old timers had it tough but today it's all easy and without real challenge.
This charge is nothing new, so a little history might be in order. The history
of Ham Radio since the advent of the home computer has been the gradual
replacement of operator intervention with computer initiatives in our operating
activities. Let's look at some.
FT8:
Is ultimately just another digital mode, the only real difference is that more
of the automation is built in from the start. But, in principal, any of the
digital modes (indeed any mode at all) can be made as automated as one desires
these days. For those under 45 (hi hi), to operate RTTY back in the day
required a thing called a Terminal Unit to translate the mark/space signals to
voltage levels to feed a Teletype machine (which was basically a big, noisy,
heavy duty typewriter). But that hasn't been the reality for RTTY for a long
time. RTTY is now as easy as downloading a program, only marginally more
difficult than operating FT8. After all, the packet cluster can give you the
who and where and the program tunes your radio to the proper frequency. You
press "send" until you get a reply (if you are working a rare DX counter
operating split there can be some more to it) and the computer logs it after
you make the contact and can even send the logging in to LOTW for credit.
DXing:
Originally required hours and hours in front of the radio, tuning and looking
for the DX. Now there were things like DX nets, and newsletters/bulletins and
the like to help a bit and DXpeditions were publicised in magazines and word of
mouth. But with the advent of the computer and packet radio, all that changed.
Decades ago, a friend of mine developed a computer program to track your DX
totals and generate mailing labels for the QSL's. He interfaced that with the
Packet and when a new coun... err... entity came on the air, his computer would
send "DX" (in CW, of course) and he could walk back to the shack, work the
counter and go back to the ball game. Quite a culture shock for the guys still
tuning around on their National HRO's. Now the DX cluster is an entrenched
reality along with Skimmer etc. No sitting in front of the rig necessary. And
QSLing in the day was a royal PITA, now you just print out the labels and
download the LOTW credits.
Contesting:
There is a film (now video, produced by a NFL films dude!) from decades ago on
YouTube that shows the DX contest from the perspective of a bunch of the
Frankford Radio Club participants. Again, if you are not over 45 it may be a
bit of a mystery what's going on. There is no Packet cluster, so DX callouts
happened on 2m FM! And you will see lots of paper. They are Log Sheets (where
you wrote down your contacts) and Cross Check sheets (where you kept track of
you contacts by listing them alphabetically so you wouldn't work too many
duplicate contacts). After the contest, you would have to "redupe" your log to
try and catch dupes that got past in the heat of battle, this would take a week
or two of intermittent effort. And a fabulous talent for a contester to have
was a good level of call recall (hi hi), the more guys you rememberd you worked
the less you had to refer to the Cross Check sheet. Of course, all this is
gone, replaced by our computer running a program like N1MM (or CT in th
e olden times).
I could go on (but mercifully won't), the point is that this is all part of a
natural progression, an inevitable part of human innovation. To me, the guys
who really have a beef are the guys from after WW2 until the computer era. You
could argue that we have devalued their accomplishments (you can also argue
they had more fun, but that's another post). But I would argue that everyone's
accomplishments stand on their own according to their time, circumstances and
operating preferences. Hank Aaron didn't devalue Babe Ruth. I would also argue
that the world keeps turning and the caravan is inexorable...
73, Kevin K3OX
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