Topband: Technology QSO's

[Charles Bibb]

Pat, N8VW, wrote:  If a contact is so hard to make that it
requires coordination over a more reliable facility then what is the point
of making that contact?

Or, more to the point, I would say, "what is the point of claiming the 
"QSO" was made via amateur radio?"

A successful amateur radio QSO is a closed loop system of information 
transfer in both directions.  If the www is substituted for any part of 
that information loop, then the "QSO" was completed by some other means, 
amateur radio being only part of the method.

Difficult, "rare" DX QSO's are accomplishment that we value precisely 
because the medium is unpredictable and unreliable.  But, any transfer of 
signal information (report) via non-amateur radio means surely invalidates 
the QSO.

For a legitimate QSO to take place, signal reports must be exchanged via 
radio waves, not through an ISP!

That's the way I feel about it.

73

Charles - K5ZK