Topband: Straws in the wind, continued or, "Where's the DX?"

[Stan Stockton]

Some questions in my mind.

How important is RF in the evolution of amateur radio? Would those who operate using FT8 be a lot less interested if it were just computers linking them with others without transmitted RF?  How about operator involvement or skill?

How important is it that hams retain 4 MHz of spectrum on 6m or other bands if most everyone has abandoned CW and SSB?   

Is there some sense of achievement when there is so much headroom in power alone that another 3 dB or even another 20 dB is so easy to achieve?  

About 50% of my enjoyment of the hobby is thinking, many hours of every day, about how to somehow achieve another dB on some band or another with a better antenna.  After about 50 hours of modeling I am now drilling tubing to make what I hope will be a great pair of tribanders to take to ZF9CW location.  One person's total waste of time is another's passion.

To each his own, but for the long term future of what has provided so many of us with a lifetime of enjoyment, woe is me.

73... Stan, K5GO