[ADXA] ADXA Digest, Vol 185, Issue 1

[HamOP]

Agree, Dennis. And “dwelling” on new subject matter is exactly what we all do and then things calm down. In looking back to the 50s, it has happened many times, like SSB taking over AM and later DSB trying but not making it thru scrutiny, so it faded. Sorta like JT65, etc fading to FT8 and now FT4 making its move.  IIWII, our hobby, take it or leave it if too frustrating, but some of it is hard to stomach as it perhaps conflicts with recent ham habits and especially DX chasing, Top of Honor Rolls, DX ladder totals and such. I think the ARRL will have some issues coming before it the next couple of years relating to conflicting matters within the DXCC program. Maybe not but many think so. 
TU for comment Dennis.
San

Sent from Mail for Windows 10

From: Dennis Schaefer
Sent: Monday, July 1, 2019 1:05 PM
To: ADXA
Subject: Re: [ADXA] ADXA Digest, Vol 185, Issue 1

John Makes a good point about DMR and that is basically the way I feel.  I use both DMR and FT8 but neither are attractive enough to lure me away from the kinds of things I've always done.  Ham radio is many different hobbies and many don't understand DX'ers at all.  Learning about anything and using it successfully is always worthwhile.  I think both DMR and fT8 are helping new hams get active and that is necessary for our survival.  We have a relatively new ham who has a horrible noise problem and can't hear much on any mode except FT8.  We are working on it, but in the meantime, he can operate.   VHF hams who get on DMR can talk to people all over the world, and might get interestd in HF Dx'ing, but if not, they probably wouldn't have anyway. They may live in an antenna-restricted place, too.   I think the concerns about DMR and fT8 really hurting ham radio are overblown, and most of us will continue to try most new things, dwell on it for awhile, and then make it a major or minor part of our ham experience.  In the meantime, I'll continue to encourage those getting into FT8 and DMR and whatever other new modes come out.  They don't have to like CW to be my friend, and I can respect and relate to them no matter what their favorite interest is.  I do a little EME with JT65.  The CW EME guys are disappointed that digital is making it easier, but that's just progress.  And - someday I'm going to make an EME contact on CW!

73,
Dennis


----------------------------------------------------------------------

Message: 1
Date: Sun, 30 Jun 2019 23:09:47 -0500
From: John Evans <wb5bhs at gmail.com>
To: adxa at mailman.qth.net
Subject: [ADXA] Additional comments on DMR
Message-ID:
        <CAM2t9zK_fTjDJRSzMANJR5ScqDT+WvarB9TyW0dmY1Xf6j96BA at mail.gmail.com>
Content-Type: text/plain; charset="utf-8"

All,

I guess I am on a roll tonight.   I do have a couple of comments about DMR.


First off, I do not believe that a QSO on DMR should count for anything
other than a nice QSO.   No DX, WAS or any award.   And yes there are many
folks that think working Europe from TX on DMR deserves to counted as DX.
But as we all know this is no different than using your Cell Phone, Skype
or any other VoIP Service.

The observation that I do want to make about DMR is this.   If you listen
to Talk Group 3100, Talk Group TAC 310 or Talk Group 913 you will hear
radio traffic for the most part.   But just sit and listen for a few hours
on Talk Group 310.   During that time period you will hear AT LEAST ONE NEW
Amateur Radio Operator, but sometimes Two or Three new Amateur Radio
Operators.

They are making their very first QSO on DMR.   You too can enjoy their
excitement with them as they work their first DX Contact.   Give one of
these new guys a call, ask them about DMR and how they got started.
Almost every one of them have the exact same story.... just the times and
locations are different.   But the typical conversation starts with they
saw this DMR Mode demonstrate.   They found out more information about
Amateur Radio, they studied or went to a class, got their ticket and now
they are on the air.

How many folks do you work on 20M CW that are brand spanking new Amateur
Radio Operators.   They saw CW demonstrated at a club meeting and thought
that was something they wanted to try.   So they learned the code, studied
the theory and got their license.   Not that many I suspect.

DMR is bringing new blood into our hobby.   Folks are getting their Amateur
Radio Operator's License because of DMR.   Our job as Experience Operators
is to help these guys and get them started into the hobby.   We need to
welcome them into the Fraternity of Amateur Radio and not talk down to them
because they are not really using a real radio to make contacts.   They
have already done the hard part, they studied, they got a license and they
got a radio all on their own.... lets try and get them pointed into the
right direction.

At least DMR is slowly pulling in new Amateur Radio Operators, very few if
any, other aspects of Amateur Radio bringing in new folks every day.

-John

-------------- next part --------------
An HTML attachment was scrubbed...
URL: <http://mailman.qth.net/pipermail/adxa/attachments/20190701/938ca4a4/attachment.html>