Topband: Brave New World

[mstangelo at comcast.net]

Let's put this into context. This is not the end of the world.  

Amateur Radio is a hobby and like any hobby has various facets. Different people have various ideas of what the hobby should be. Some hams are or imagine themselves to be experimenters, engineers, metalworkers, awards collectors, country collectors, traffic policemen, radio broadcasters, military radio operators, historians, first responders, survivalists, adventurers or equipment flippers. (Have I missed anything?)

I've heard complaints about the hobby not being what is used to be since I started in the hobby in the 1960's. This is usually out of envy so I take no stock it this argument. The hobby has not changed but the technology had radically changed.

I started in the hobby because of the fascination of communicating through the "either" without using and any other communications infrastructure. I like to build equipment and operate without depending on external communication aids such as spotters, DX clusters, online propagation forecasts, text messaging or the internet.

I presently live on an acre plot which has given me the ability to put up an Inverted V to effectively operate on 160 meters. 

I am a pragmatist. I am not getting any younger and my wife wants to downsize. I may end up in a place where I cannot put up effective antennas so I may consider remote operation as an option. We all have health issues and we may end up in retirement communities or assisted living so remote operation can enable me to enjoy the hobby.

We should consider the new technology as a way of extending our hobby.

Mike N2MS




-----Original Message-----

Hi Guys,

Is the day very far off in the distant future when the physical human
element won't even be needed at a radio station on the eve of a contest...?

Just programme the event into the computer, hook it up to the rig...and then
go off to bed. The next day you meander down to the shack, coffee in hand &
rubbing the sleep out of your eyes, to learn that in your absence, your
station made some 5,000 QSOs, AND DXCC, twice over!

Remember "Dr. DX" of the 1980's...? Shades of days yet to come---if ,
indeed, those days are not here already.

At the risk of sounding like a dinosaur---on second thought, who cares? The
dinosaurs ruled the earth for untold millions of years, to man's single
million---just as insurance companies & lawyers are spelling the demise of
kids' playground toys and group get-togethers, computers will spell the end
of the very essence that makes Ham radio fun. At least to dinosaurs like
yours truly, anyway.

~73~ de Eddy VE3CUI - VE3XZ