[CQ-Contest] VY1AAA @ VY1JA will be QRV for CW SS...

[Paul O'Kane]

On 02/11/2015 19:06, Gerry Hull wrote:

> Thanks to a lot of work from J and the remote team, Hal, W1NN, will operate
> SOHP in November SS via remote from his home in Ohio.

The fact that something can be done does not
necessarily mean there is merit in doing it.
And the fact that something is being done by
radio amateurs does not necessarily mean it is
amateur radio.

W1NN, "operating" from his home in Ohio, will be no
different to the millions of people networked by a
commercial communications utility at that time, and
fully dependent on it all at times.

In SS, W1NN will communicate with other people who
are radio amateurs.  In his case, however, the
signal path between W1NN and anyone he works will
be from Ohio to the Yukon to wherever.

The portion of the signal path from Ohio to the
Yukon is internet-hosted, and the complete signal
path is a composite of internet and amateur-band
RF.  What has been lost, or abandoned, is the
communications independence that used to set us
apart from all others - we might as well use the
phone.

Why does this matter?  Well, as radio amateurs we
use amateur radio to communicate with one another.
If HOW we communicate no longer matters, we have no
right to describe ourselves as radio amateurs - we
are no different from anyone else.

It seems to me that remote contesting, as promoted
by W1VE and others, serves only to make a mockery
of amateur radio in general and amateur-radio
contesting in particular.

73,
Paul EI5DI