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

[Mike Williams]

Well said...thanks Bill,


73 de W4DL   Mike



----- Original Message ----- 
From: "Bill" <bmarx at bellsouth.net>
To: "aSFDXA" <SFDXA at mailman.qth.net>
Sent: Saturday, September 14, 2013 3:01 PM
Subject: [SFDXA] Guest Editorial - "Whose Advantage" by K7RAN, Randy Padawer


> 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
>  ______________________________________________________________________
>
> W3UR, Bernie McClenny, publishes THE DAILY DX (TM) Monday through
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> Editor of The Daily DX, The Weekly DX and How's DX?
> www.dailydx.com
>
>
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