[HCARC] "Canned Radio"

[Gary and Arlene Johnson]

Kerry,

Sweden Huh, no wonder I noticed something different about you.  My ancestry 
on my dad's side is all from Norway except for one Swede, and we usually 
don't talk about the Poles and Italians on my mom's side.  At least she 
could teach me to cook.

The best thing about being a new Ham is there are all of the things out 
there to dabble in until you find your current passion.  I have read in many 
books tha he first 100 countries contacted are a precious time that will be 
difficult to duplicate.

Gary J
N5BAA
HCARC Secretary 2013

----- Original Message ----- 
From: "Kerry Sandstrom" <kerryk5ks at hughes.net>
To: "Gary and Arlene Johnson" <qltfnish at omniglobal.net>; 
<hcarc at mailman.qth.net>
Sent: Sunday, May 26, 2013 6:59 AM
Subject: Re: [HCARC] "Canned Radio"


> Hi Hi!!
>
> Gary,
>
> 599 TX is not communications, you're right on that.  I sometimes get on 
> for the state QSO parties, but they are much more relaxed.  My preference 
> is rag-chewing on CW with friends I've been working for many years.  RTTY 
> in the old days used to be mainly rag-chews also, but now it is like 
> PSK-31, almost a continuous contest style operation - Not for me.   A lot 
> of DXing isn't much better although I sometimes work some of the DX guys 
> I've worked in years past and have fairly pleasant QSO's with them.
>
> Computers have almost destroyed ham radio as I knew it.  Seems like many 
> of the guys on the various digital modes have all their stuff preloaded 
> like name, qth, rig, etc and they just push a button.  If you ask them a 
> questioin, you never get an answer.  I don't think they even read what 
> they receive!  Many times I don't think they can copy me at all, they just 
> get their info by looking my call up on QRZ.com.  That is really obvious 
> when they think my QTH is Fredericksburg (which is what QRZ.com has since 
> that is my mail address) and not Harper which is what I send on the air. 
> Guys that use an unusual nickname or a middle name have a similar problem. 
> As I said, thay is not ham radio!  Oh, yes, some of them show up on CW 
> with Morse readers and computer keyboards and canned messages.  They can't 
> copy CW but pretend that they can.  It is almost enough to make me send 
> sloppy CW so the automatic Morse readers can't copy me!
>
> Yes, you need to find something that you want to work and don't get 
> dragged into stuff you don't care about.  Propagation is generally 
> excellent from Texas to the South pacific.  You should have a lot of fun. 
> For me it was working all the JA prefectures on 10 m CW - Yes, I did; then 
> it was working the Soviet Union radio regions, there are/were about 175 of 
> them again on 10 m CW; and since I'm of Viking descent, working the 
> traditional counties of Sweden, my families homeland, on 10 m CW.  You can 
> have a lot of fun, talk to a lot of interesting people and learn a lot 
> about a country without getting dragged into the contest style exchanges.
>
> Remember, the goal is to have fun!
>
> Kerry
>
>
>
> -----
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