Text 182, 88 rader
Skriven 2006-05-24 23:58:00 av BOB KLAHN (1:123/140)
     Kommentar till en text av SAM ALEXANDER
Ärende: Magic of Amateur Radio of
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...

 SA> I read this article on the ARRL website today, and it
 SA> touches on a theory I've had for many years now, is the
 SA> Magic of technology still there?

 Yep. But going away.

 ...

 SA> shortly after we discovered modems and BBSes.  What a
 SA> wonderful technology!  We could communicate with not only
 SA> friends across town but also people across the globe!  I
 SA> remember the first time I jumped on a Fidonet echo and
 SA> someone replied back from over seas, it was for lack of a
 SA> better word, magical!

 Yes, indeed.

 ...

 SA> Something about communicating with people from elsewhere
 SA> was the magic for me.  Just like that first message on
 SA> Fidonet I remember the first time I jumped on Internet
 SA> Relay Chat (IRC) in 1994 and was talking to a fellow in
 SA> Paris who simply said "The Eifel Tower looks great today".
 SA> He said his apartment was in Paris and looking out his
 SA> window he could see the Eifel Tower!  Again, this was truly
 SA> magical thinking I was chatting with someone in real time
 SA> who was across the globe.  Fidonet took days to make it,
 SA> but via the Internet it was instant!  I admit, I was hooked
 SA> on the Internet early on.

 I like the instant for chatting, but for discussion you need the
 time delay to let you think, and research, and actually have
 something to say. For that Fido is unbeatable. AFAIK.

 SA> Now 12 years after that IRC conversation such things are a
 SA> daily occurrence.  Kids grow-up with the ability to call
 SA> anywhere on their cell phone to anyplace in the world at
 SA> virtually no cost.  Anyone can jump on the Internet and see
 SA> the Eifel Tower via webcam now.  As usual Technology has
 SA> made it easy to do things like talk across the seas, but in
 SA> a way this simple ability has taken the magic away.

 Yes, indeed it has. I still remember listening to the BBC early
 on, and Radio Netherlands. Now I download the BBC and RTE
 (Ireland) and Copenhagne calling and Channel Africa etc.
 WRN.org

 SA> I never got my amateur radio license, but I've always
 SA> wanted to get it and I'm working towards it now.  I wish I
 SA> could've felt the magic of talking with someone across the
 SA> globe via radio before the Internet made it such a common

 It was magic to talk to someone across town. It was magic to
 just listen around the world. That is what got me into Radio,
 what got me into Electronics. Unfortunately I got distracted by
 making money in industry, instead of trying for radio as a
 profession.

 SA> thing.  The Internet has done what many people hoped it
 SA> would do, it made global communication simple and common
 SA> place, but look at what it has taken away.  Why would a kid
 SA> want to get into ham radios if they can do the same thing
 SA> via the Internet or cell phone?  Nostalgia plays a huge
 SA> part in it too, but for someone without that nostalgic
 SA> memory of "the way it once was", what else is there?  I see
 SA> this daily with BBSing, why use a BBS when you have the WWW?

 Exactly right, as much as I hate to admit it.

 SA> I'm not saying such things are dead, I still plan on
 SA> getting my amateur license soon, but I hate that the magic
 SA> might not be there.  Just the simple fact that the ARRL
 SA> president needed to post such an article proves the magic
 SA> is gone for new comers.

 To a great extent it is. We will remember it, but not forever.

 ...

BOB KLAHN bob.klahn@sev.org   http://home.toltbbs.com/bobklahn

... Seems everything I like goes away.
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