[CQ-Contest] "Packet ruined ham radio" (version N+1)

[Charles R.Tropp]

“I knowI'm a minority, but I liked it better the old way.”


 
HiArt,

Yes, nostalgiais a legitimate and quite common sentiment. As an officer of the QuarterCentury Wireless Association (QCWA) I have heard similar expressions from manyof our members. There was quite a bit of opposition to our decision to adopt amonthly online journal to replace our printed quarterly some years ago. Somemembers actually quit saying they did not have access to or refused to use acomputer. But isn’t life all about learning new things and discovering new waysof doing things? You and I are close in age so I am sure you remember the SlideRule which largely became obsolete with the adoption of the electroniccalculator and similar software programs. Despite the fact that a Slide Ruleneeds no batteries, power supply, software upgrades or security protection, I wouldbe very surprised to find any current engineers still using one. 

 73, Charles N2SO
Treasurer, Quarter Century Wireless Association, Inc. http://QCWA.org 

    On Monday, March 6, 2017 9:51 PM, Art Boyars <artboyars at gmail.com> wrote:
 

 I'm sure all you modern op's are tired of hearing me beat this dead horse
(see note below sig), but...

KK9A laments (with justification):

"[N1MM logging program not showing WP2AA as US VI] is a terrible error as
it caused a lot of confusion all weekend long and it probably caused me to
lose many QSOs."

Well, if the operators actually had to KNOW something (like what prefix
means what entity) we would not have this problem.

You don't have to know what country it is -- the logger tells you that.

You don't have to know where to point the antenna (I should have such a
problem!) -- the logger tells you that.

You don't have to guess the missing letters in a responder's call sign --
the logger does that.

You don't have to look for new CQers -- the logger tells you that, AND it
points out if it's a mult and tells you where to point the beam.

You just click and work.

All the years of experience that you used to need to improve your
contesting performance are now not needed.  It's so much different from
when I got started.  I know I'm a minority, but I liked it better the old
way.  More skill (well, different skills), more learning, and more
excitement.

I'm glad most of you think it's more fun now.

73, Art K3KU

Note: How do you "hear" some one beat a dead horse?  Ask Tim Leary.  Some
of us lived through that era and do remember it.
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