[CQ-Contest] Reverse Beacon Network - too much success?

[Mike]

Doug Smith [W7KF] wrote:
> The magic of HF radio communication is that it does NOT require a hundred 
> billion dollars worth of infrastructure. It does not require undersea cables, 
> satellites in orbit, countless microwave relay sites, cell sites, ISPs, packet 
> switched networks, servers, routers, investment bankers or stockholders. NONE 
> OF THAT.
>
> HF radio communication only requires a couple of guys with some relatively 
> simple gear and antennas. Maybe they even built their own gear out of 
> scrounged parts. Maybe their antenna is a bit of wire strung up in a tree.
> These guys generate RF and launch it into the ether, bound for parts unknown. 
> Some other guy picks up a few millionths of a volt of that puny signal and 
> carefully nurtures it, amplifies it, converts it to audio and decodes it. And, 
> then the process reverses and we have a QSO in the log.
>
> That is *magic* and it makes your heart beat a little faster. Just imagine it!
>
> Sending an email, talking on a cell phone -- yes, amazing technology. I 
> suppose the current term would be "awesome". But, it has no soul. It is as 
> empty as a politicians promise. It's just a phone call. Or an email. Or a spot 
> on the cluster.
>
> It has *no* magic.
>
> 73,
> -Doug, W7KF
>   http://www.w7kf.com
>   
Well and truely said!

73, Mike NF4L