[CQ-Contest] July QST arrives "Antenna Issue"

[Larry Weaver]

At 01:42 PM 6/25/01 -0600, Philip F. Krichbaum wrote:
>Their idea of DX is
>how far away can you key up a repeator on a rubber duck and a really
>diverse operator operates 450 as well as 144 MHz FM.
>         73 Phil N0KE

With the advent of IRLP, which connects 450 and 144 MHz repeaters around 
the world through the Internet, "DXing" is possible with an HT. I've heard 
some of them comment, "Why should I spend money on radios and antennas when 
I can talk to someone in Australia or England using my 0.5 watt HT?" A VK 
asked one of the guys if he every got on 20 meters. His reply, "What's 20 
meters?"

Amateur radio has changed such that for many new licensees, ham radio is an 
interesting cell phone on which you can make random calls and not have 
people get angry. Many don't know how to use their radios other than switch 
to a memory location entered into their radio by a friend and push the talk 
button.

Technology could take away much of what has been fun for me in amateur 
radio; that's why I don't use much of it. I have a radio that listens to 
packet cluster spots and tunes the radio to the DX frequency. All I have to 
do is push a button that sends recorded CW or voice and enter the call sign 
in a computer. I can use two radios in a contest so I don't have to make a 
decision about whether to run stations or hunt multipliers. Hunting 
multipliers is further simplified by using packet spots. I prefer to be 
involved in the process although I marvel at the technology that could do 
it for me.

73,

Larry N6TW


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