[Amps] QSK

[Joe Isabella]

Wow...
   
  I dunno...  Maybe I -AM- being a little too "nostalgic".  Unless you're really a quadriplegic, I would think that pushing a couple buttons on a keyboard to "work" and log DX equivelent to using "cheat codes" to win at computer games.  Sure you'll probably win, but my fondest contacts are the ones I had to work the hardest to get.  Effortless contacts are quickly forgotten, at least in my mind.
   
  And while we're so far off with this tangent, I heard something akin to what I described actually on the air -- for an *SSB CONTEST*!!  It was the silliest thing I ever heard.  Seems the guy recorded the usual "CQ Contest", etc., but also automated the reply so the PC basically read back from the log your call and exchange.  The voice didn't even match the guy operating, so when the QSO wasn't "textbook", and we heard the actual operator's voice clarifying something, it was really humorous.  I'm not "making fun" of someone that overcame a physical impairment to work the bands -- that's a pretty far reach.  My point is only that sometimes automation can be taken a little too far.  Don't you think?
   
  If the PC is doing all the work, maybe the QSL card and DX award certificate should have "Dell Dimension" as the operator, not your callsign.
   
  :-P
   
  Joe
  

Jim Kearman <jkearman at att.net> wrote:
  
From: Joe Isabella 
> Do you use logging SW complete with DX Spots and rig & rotor control, too? 

Interesting how the scope of this discussion keeps expanding exponentially. From memory keyers, we have now boldly leapt into full station automation in the blink of a dit. 

The website url in my sig will answer most of your questions. Note that my _solid-state transceiver_ has a synthesizer so I don't have to change crystals to QSY. It also has a digital display so I don't have to interpolate an analog dial. Even worse, I use a keyer, not a straight key. And look, look! -- there's an MFJ 1026 so I don't have to work so hard digging signals out of the noise. I guess I'm not having much fun. Maybe I should go back to the Valiant, NC-303 and bug I used 30+ years ago. While I'm at it I could swap my Florida condo for the East Village flat I lived in when I had those radios, where I used the fire escape for an antenna. But I've moved on, on all fronts. 

Technology is only a tool, an extension of our hands and minds. A memory keyer helps me be a better operator. I see nothing to apologize for. I use CT in contests, too, not paper dupe sheets. I think your comments were out of line. For all you know I am physically challenged, with neurological damage that makes it hard to use a paddle repetitively. "Judge not..."

73,

Jim, KR1S
Author of "The DXCC Companion" and "Low Profile Amateur Radio"
http://kr1s.kearman.com/
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