[Elecraft] PS on The Complete DX'r

[Julian, G4ILO]

Vic,

I'll take your word that the thrill's the same, but personally I'm with Bob 
Nielsen on this one. I'd take my hat off to the guy with an all-homebrew, 
QRO DX station, but how many of those do you see?

I'm not saying that people shouldn't run high power and a beam if they're 
able to, but it's not an option for many people. I don't think many of you 
folks in that big country of yours know what it's like over here. How can 
you have a beam and tower  in a garden barely more than 30 foot square, and 
how can you run high power when the neighbours are so close you can't get 
good separation between your RF and their home electronic equipment? And 
I'm afraid I don't see why neighbours should love my beam and tower just 
because it helps my hobby. They paid good money to live in an attractive 
neighbourhood: what right have I to spoil it?

Then there's the issue of cost: there aren't many who can afford to spend a 
couple of thousand pounds and up on a hobby, especially the young, who 
we're trying to attract into the hobby. It's hardly surprising that the 
average age of people you meet on the air is over 50: there the only ones 
with any disposable income with the mortgage paid off and the kids off 
their hands.

I think it's a great pity that so much emphasis is made on the DX chasing 
side of the hobby, so that people who can't put together a competitive 
station feel left out. I think the idea of radio just for fun should be 
given much greater prominence in the mags like RadCom and QST. I don't 
think the current situation benefits manufacturers such as Elecraft either. 
Think of all the people who wouldn't look at the original K2 because they 
considered a radio with only 10W output was not worth bothering with.

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



Vic Rosenthal <vic@rakefet.com> wrote:

Not if he's working a station a few hundred miles away, but if he's working 
a super-weak station in a rare location on the other side of the world, of 
course he does!

[snip]

How about working DX with equipment you built yourself? And as for the 
neighbours, doesn't being considerate work both ways? Why should we hams 
limit our activities because ill-informed people like to object to things 
that they don't understand? My neighbour has a poorly-trained dog that is 
incredibly annoying in many ways, however I understand that he gets some 
pleasure out of harbouring this animal so I put up with the midnight 
barking, etc. Why shouldn't he accept the antenna that I find so rewarding?