[SFDXA] Guest Editorial - "Whose Advantage" by K7RAN, Randy Padawer

[Bill]

Reprinted with Permission from Bernie W3UR- The Daily DX

Guest Editorial - "Whose Advantage" by K7RAN, Randy Padawer
______________________________________________________________________

Technological advantage, engineering advantage, financial advantage,
propagation advantage: Seriously?

My father tells me that the advent of single sideband caused a flurry
of old-timer dissent because suddenly phone pileups were easier to
stand and navigate. Eliminating heterodynes made it just too easy for
sub-par stations to get through. Armed with that technological
advantage, SSB was ruining the chase. Dad's good friend Cliff
Tritchler (W4IO, now SK) told of the days when another technological
advance - the emergence of equipment that was too difficult to home-
brew for most folks - essentially ruined the meaning of amateur
QSLing. Hams, after all, weren't supposed to use the kinds of
transmitters that more typified broadcast stations. These new
appliance operators were armed with an unfair engineering advantage,
making it all too easy.

Remote operation has been in development for decades. Several well-
heeled DXers in the 1960s and 1970s pioneered the use of Ma Bell and
touchtone signals to remotely control their stations, allowing them to
catch the "big one" even when on vacation. Their technological
achievements were written about and celebrated. At least a few famous
DXpeditioners have used remote techniques so that they wouldn't miss
their own rare activations. Perhaps more commonly, but still novel
enough to be unusual, snowbirds hailing from one well-known northern
DX club or another were able to remote back to their icy stations on
special occasions.

More recently, enterprising DXers used Skype and IP protocols to do
the same, liberating this technology from the super wealthy and DX
elites. Suddenly hyper-fast Internet speeds and more readily acquired
"appliance" accessibility are bringing remote technologies to the
masses. Some who suffered their way through an earlier time resent
that barn door opening because, once again, technological advances
pioneered by radio amateurs are watering down the entire enterprise,
making the hunt for rare stations far too easy. These same objectors,
though, really don't have much of a good answer when asked questions
like: "Should my on-vacation mobile contacts count toward DXCC?"
"Don't these developments eliminate an unfair financial advantage
previously enjoyed by well-heeled DXers?" "Were earlier, celebrated
practices more or less objectionable than the more recent, accessible
developments?" "Should we disallow contacts made by traveling DXers
from friends' stations?"

Moreover, in an increasingly mobile world, so many move away from
homes they knew in childhood, college, and young adulthood. Later, so
many retire to yet new locales. Since the early 1970s, an amateur's
contacts from a single entity have counted for DXCC with no
stipulations regarding ground mobile, or remote control, or visiting
control operator status. How many current DXCC Honor Rollers would
have to give up their positions (and likely half their country counts)
if, say, they suddenly had to designate one life QTH to "count." A
transfer from California to Wyoming, or Tennessee to Utah, or Nebraska
to South Carolina, would necessitate restarting the climb. How many
current DXers would support that today? How practical would such a
revision be for the 21st century in any case? Finally, what kind of
demoralizing impact would that have upon our hobby's relevance at a
time when ham radio must appeal to this younger, increasingly mobile
generation?

In fact, everything about ham radio gets easier with each passing
decade, and it's been that way since the beginning. And, with each
step, resentful objectors have raised their voices right alongside
those who pioneer each advance.

Copyright (c) 2013 by Bernie McClenny
  ______________________________________________________________________

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Bernie McClenny, W3UR
Editor of The Daily DX, The Weekly DX and How's DX?
www.dailydx.com