[Elecraft] PS on The Complete DX'r

[Kenneth E. Harker]

On Tue, Jun 24, 2003 at 08:08:54AM -0700, Ron D'Eau Claire wrote:
> 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. 

I am a contester, and I love radio sport.  When topics like this come up,
I like to make an analogy between ham radio and bicycling.  Consider the 
following:

    Amateur Radio                     Bicycling
    ---------------------------------------------------------
    Ragchewing           An evening ride around the block
    Traffic Handling     Commuting to work
    DXing                Cycle touring
    Contesting           Racing
    Homebrew             Gear nuts

Not everyone with a bicycle wants to race it.  Not everyone enjoys commuting
to work in traffic, not everyone wants to slap panniers on their bike and
ride for a week or month at a time.  There's room for everyone in bicycling,
just as there is room for everyone in ham radio.  

Elecraft makes great radios that one can use to enjoy any of the many facets 
of ham radio.

-- 
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Kenneth E. Harker      "Vox Clamantis in Deserto"      kharker@cs.utexas.edu
University of Texas at Austin                   Amateur Radio Callsign: WM5R
Department of the Computer Sciences          Central Texas DX & Contest Club
Taylor Hall TAY 2.124                         Maintainer of Linux on Laptops
Austin, TX 78712-1188 USA            http://www.cs.utexas.edu/users/kharker/
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