[Lowfer] hiFER's 2-8-16

[JD]

Having been the operator of this list's "other life" at lwca.org for a few 
years following the turn of the century, back when qth.net experienced major 
issues with some of its reflectors, I can speak with some authority as to 
its history. And it's true that most folks agreed after closure of the 
separate HiFER reflector (which had as much to do with the headaches of spam 
blocking software as the comparatively low number of HiFERs back then) that 
HiFER reports were acceptable here.

But that's missing the real point.

Being acceptable and being _effective_ are two different matters.  Of the 25 
HiFER operators who are either confirmed active or have stated that they 
plan to be again at some point, only six (count 'em, 6) are regulars on this 
reflector. That's less than one-fourth.  I, myself, like to post HiFER items 
here occasionally, but that's more for the sake of exposing potential 
newcomers to activity in that band. Never hurts to be aware of other 
interesting aspects of the hobby, after all, especially since there's so 
much overlap in techniques and objectives.

On the other hand, at least _23_ of those HiFER operators check in from time 
to time at the LWCA Message Board!  Therefore, since the primary objective 
of my reports is to let the beacon operators know how they're doing, I make 
it a point to mainly post those reports at the Message Board.  Right tool 
for the right audience, as they say.

As a matter of fact, the Message Board has been so popular among HiFERs 
lately that (a) there have been concerns expressed that it's losing its 
longwave focus, and (b) as a result, I have been revising the software so 
that HiFERs will soon have their own separate category (while still having 
access to the LF related posts as well).  In anticipation, the name of the 
board has recently changed from LW Message Board to LWCA Message Board in 
recognition of its wider appeal.  There are improvements coming to make the 
Board even more interactive, but no need to waste bandwidth talking about 
those just yet.

John