[Lowfer] Publicity and new blood

esmithmail at gmail.com esmithmail at gmail.com
Thu Oct 29 17:20:13 EDT 2009 

Hi, Eddy,

I appreciate your comments.  Please don't take my reply the wrong way, like you said, just one opinion here, but I could not disagree with you more.  First, I don't think anyone cares if someone is "put off" by modes like Wolf or QRSS.  As far as what attracted some of us to this hobby, it was for me in fact those very modes.

Besides, most folks here transmit in a variety of different modes, including standard CW.  In fact, those of us with Part-5 licenses ID with CW every 30 minutes.  When running my hifer (has been a while) I rain QRSS 3 for 30 minutes, and standard CW for 30 minutes. 

You complained about the CW operators who won't slow down for the newbies...so what?  Not everyone always slowed down for me, but some did.  So I carried on CW QSOs with those who would, and just difby talk to the others. 

That's like complaining, if you speak only Spanish, that the rest of us learn Spanish too...how ridiculous is that?  Learn English, or go home.  If someone wants to learn Spanish, fine, but you can't MAKE the rest of us do it. 

We are here to forward our hobby, the things we like to do.  If that means run QRSS, then that's what I'm going to do.  You can't make me change that. 

What got me started?  Frankly, it was seeing Les Reyburn's site wher he showed the "XMGR" over the dashes and dots on a QRSS capture.  I think by that time he was already out of it but his website was still up.  That got me going.  I got on the reflector of that day, learned some things, then built my own beacon and joined the watering hole. 

But if you don't want to, you don't have to. 

I hope this helps,
Eric KD5UWL, WD2XFX
Sent from my BlackBerry® wireless device from U.S. Cellular

-----Original Message-----
From: "Edward Swynar" <gswynar at durham.net>
Date: Thu, 29 Oct 2009 15:52:31 
To: Discussion of the Lowfer \(US, European, &amp;UK\) and MedFer bands<lowfer at mailman.qth.net>; <k5wms at centurytel.net>
Subject: Re: [Lowfer] Publicity and new blood

Good Day All,

Well, this is just one VERY small opinion to be sure, but you know what the
experts say: for every person who might dare to raise a question, odds are
that at least four others in the audience were thinking the very same thing!

I'm personally VERY turned off by the near universal computer useage in the
band by the Lowfer crowd: stuff like WOLF(?) and QRSS may well be the
leading-edge ideal marriage between technology & being heard far, far away,
but somehow I do NOT think it's conducive to attracting the
casual-listener-cum-low-band addict whose interest  may---or may not---be
piqued by what he/she might hear...

It reminds me a lot of Ham radio CW contesting: if every hot-shot big gun
contestor left his keyer set at 40 wpm and refused to patiently slow things
down for benefit of a part time, casual  "weekend warrior", how many newbies
to this niche of the hobby would stick around for more...? Probably very
few...

Ditto high-tech Lowfer operation. I think this niche of the hobby has really
& truly marginalized itself through its exclusion of "...the lowest common
denominator", i.e. newcomers who might be sampling the low frequencies for
the very first time. There's still magic in being able to hear that 10 wpm
automated CW beacon---too bad that so many seem to have forgotten this fact
(after all, what was it that first attracted YOU to Lowfer activities in the
first place, if not just that...?!).

~73~ de Eddy VE3CUI - VE3XZ


********************************

----- Original Message -----
From: "Warren Ziegler" <wd2xgj at gmail.com>
To: <k5wms at centurytel.net>; "Discussion of the Lowfer (US, European,
&amp,UK) and MedFer bands" <lowfer at mailman.qth.net>
Sent: Thursday, October 29, 2009 2:29 PM
Subject: Re: [Lowfer] Publicity and new blood


> Paul,
>
>     Communications Quarterly went out of business in 2000 and was
> merged into QEX. There have been several LF/MF articles in QEX over
> recent years.
>      Peter Dodd G3LDO wrote the "LF Experimenter's Handbook" published
> by RSGB and available from the ARRL, there is also "LF Today
> a guide to success on 136 and 500kHz" 2nd Edition by Mike Dennison,
> G3XDV and Jim Moritz , M0BMU also available from ARRL.
>
>    The problem is not due to a lack of publicity or books, its mostly
> the nature of ham radio which has become a hobby of appliance
> operators.
>
> --
> 73 Warren K2ORS
>                 WD2XGJ
>                 WD2XSH/23
>                 WE2XEB/2
>                 WE2XGR/1
>
>
>
> On Thu, Oct 29, 2009 at 11:24 AM, Paul Daulton <k5wms at centurytel.net>
wrote:
> > I became aware of the part 15 lowfer activity back in Dec 1971 by way of
an article in Popular Electronics.
> > Last article I can find in a major publication about part15 operation is
an excellent article by Steve Ford in QST back in 1994. I think it is time
to recruit some new blood . Only way to do that is publicity. We can start
by emailing Steve Ford at QST and update him on what we are doing now.
Perhaps CQ and Communications quarterly would be interested.
> >
> > QST has a very long lead time on articles, CQ I dont know but I think it
is less than six months. 73 could publish in less than 4 months but thats
gone now. Mfj publishes a lot of special interest books like Pivinichys book
on xtal filters and Drew Diamonds "QRP projects from downunder". May be we
could assemble a lowfer handbook from internet articles. I have the RSGB low
freq handbook but that is all about 137khz.
> >
> > I only have limited experience with publication( two articles in 73) so
I would like to hear from Jay and other who have more insight.
> >
> > Off topic but mondays local paper the Arkansas Democrat-Gazette had an
article about the government
> > granting power companies the ok to install digital power meters and send
the data over power lines.
> > I wonder if this has any bearing on the FCC reluctance to allow 137
alocations in this country. The gov is pouring in money to "update the
nations power grid" according to the article. I could use some stimulus
money myself.
> > Paul Daulton K5WMS
> > beacon WMS 187.492 khz qrss30/slow 24/7
> > Jacksonville,Ar 72076
> > em34wu
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