Topband: Technology vs. Tradition

[Brian Moran]

Hi Everyone! As a relative youngster (a few more months to go before I qualify for AARP!), I've been reading every fifth message or so about digital modes on 160;  In the "old days", seems like any innovation or mode that would get the intelligence through would have been in the domain of what was acceptable or even wanted. 

Maybe one could argue that the digital modes aren't really exploring new ground here, but on the ham bands these days what is? Do we even care about that aspect of the hobby anymore? It appears from reading the reflector that it's OK to experiment with antennas, amps, etc. but please get your non-CW signal 'off my 160 lawn'. Perhaps I exaggerate, but many evenings (and certainly during the day :-)) for large parts of the year, the spectrum appears underutilized. 

"Digital modes not being a QSO"; Sure to incite a bunch more reflector traffic. Using lookups into code correcting tables, or comparing received information against a known corpus -- could we not liken than to "ARRL STANDARD MESSAGE XXXX" where if I don't have the code book, I don't know what the message is? Some of those CW characters and prosigns I occasionally hear on 40m in the morning from Asia, I don't understand either. 

Now before you think I'm advocating digital uber alles, I've never consciously used a 'digital mode' on 160m (besides CW) that I can recall. I know I've occasionally delved into SSB, even on 160! But usually someone else did it first. 

Trying new things out seems easier and less costly than it's ever been in our hobby before, perhaps because most of us have computers now. I find that experimenting with new stuff always helps me in some way, whether it's understanding ALC better because of PSK, seeing band openings on a spectrum scope before I can hear it, figuring out some interference source. Are you still asking yourself "What Have I Done that's new to me lately"? on 160, or is that not what it's about?

-Brian N9ADG