[Elecraft] K3 capabilities

[Ron D'Eau Claire]

>Aren't we in danger of going too far down the line of absolving people
>from
>having to think for themselves?  However did we manage with radios that 
>just
>put out the power set on the power control?

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

Set by the power control? How about adjusting biases and monitoring the
operating conditions of the critical stages via voltages and currents to
determine if things are working correctly and, if not, where the issue might
be...

But most of these requests are from people looking for an operating edge,
not an advance in the underlying communications technology. 

They want to be as competitive as possible in snagging that rare DX (or
running the string as efficiently as possible when they *are* the DX) or
racking up the biggest possible score in a contest.

Back in the days when we worried about adjusting plate tuning, setting grid
drive, etc., some of those Hams built (or bought) separate rigs for each
band so they could jump from one to another as quickly as possible. 

Now they are trying to be competitive with everyone else who has a
highly-automated rig. 

Just as the exact position of feet in the starting blocks can make the
difference between winning and losing a 100-yard sprint, how many button
pushes it takes to do something can make a huge difference to them.

So they campaign and hope. 

The day will come when some Hams simply program in a start time for the next
contest and the rig runs the contest completely unaided. But the Ham him (or
her)self won't be relaxing too much. He/she will be pouring over
possibilities to make the whole thing work just a bit more efficiently. 

It doesn't have to make sense. The huge value and advantage in Ham radio is
that we can do, within very, very broad limits, whatever interests us, no
matter how silly or inane it may look to others. 

For some, it's scoring high on a contest.

For others, it's having the highest-fidelity audio possible. 

And, for some, it's grabbing that weak signal from a QRPp station on 40
meter CW or actually making a QSO with our latest homebrew creations.

The number of these seemingly inane, silly activities is endless. It's also
just these sort of things that have paid huge benefits to individuals and
societies in often-unexpected ways throughout history. 

So to answer your question, "Aren't we in danger of going too far down the
line of absolving people from having to think for themselves?" I say, "not a
chance". Those who choose not to think won't do so under any conditions. For
the rest, there's always something new to think about... 

Ron AC7AC







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