[Elecraft] PS on The Complete DX'r

[Ron D'Eau Claire]

Wonderfully said, Julian. There is a thrill in doing something we didn't
think possible - like QRP DX.  But, for me, the competition is with the
physics, the universe and the ionosphere, not the operators. Personally, =
I
cringed when the term "radio sport" appeared some years ago. It =
emphasizes
competition between operators rather than a cooperative group of =
operators
attempting to do something together.=20

It isn't new, though. In the early attempts to span the Atlantic with
shortwave signals in the 1920s radio amateurs weren't defeated so much =
by
propagation, weak signals and poor antennas as they were by each other. =
On
one side there was a cacophony of signals all QRMing each other trying =
to be
the 'first' heard. On the other side there were so many regenerative
receivers oscillating and radiating interference that no one could hear
anything!=20

From what I read us rowdy Yanks have you Brits to thank for this runaway
obsession with competition. It was your Queen Victoria who decided that
emphasizing sports made boys better warriors to serve and protect the
Empire. We may have rejected tea, but we embraced your all-out =
competitive
spirit as if we had invented it. The sun might set, briefly, on the =
British
Empire each day now, but it never sets on those ideals of competition =
that,
for good or naught, live on in former British colonies around the world.
Like so many useful and important ideals, the idea of competiting is =
easy to
twist into something ugly when winning becomes our only goal --- when we
begin to believe such nonsense as there being no value in "second" =
place.=20

A friend recently reminded me of a story that happened at a "special
Olympics" for disabled folks here. A group started to run a "sprint". At =
the
starting gun they began, not sprinting very fast by the standards of the
rest of us, but as best they could. Each contestant obviously had great
enthusiasm to win. But one competitor fell down and began to cry. =
Several
others noticed him and they stopped. They went back and picked him up =
and
helped him "run" the race. The story goes that the little group crossed =
the
finish line not first, but together, arm-in-arm.=20

On Field Day perhaps it's most important to remember that we aren't only
getting points with each new contact. By our efforts we are giving the =
other
stations points as well.=20

Ron AC7AC
K2 # 1289


...You only have to listen to the behaviour of people in pile-ups,,, =
They
don't sound as if they=20
are having a good time to me. Is there pleasure to be had in shouting =
the=20
last two letters of your call into a microphone for half an hour,=20
especially if at the end of it you have no result.... Personally I think
there is more fun to be had=20
chatting with like-minded people using a radio you built yourself than=20
there is working DX using thousands of dollars worth of commercial gear =
and
an antenna that annoys the heck out of the neighbours.

73,
--
Julian, G4ILO. (RSGB, ARRL, G-QRP, K2 #392)
G4ILO's Shack: http://www.qsl.net/g4ilo