Text 198, 103 rader
Skriven 2006-05-28 17:18:00 av PETER COGGON (1:123/140)
     Kommentar till en text av SAM ALEXANDER
Ärende: Magic of Amateur Ra [1/2]
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 >>> Part 1 of 2...

Hello Sam;

 -=> Quoting Sam Alexander to All <=-


 SA> I read this article on the ARRL website today, and it touches on a
 SA> theory  I've had for many years now, is the Magic of technology still
 SA> there?   http://www.arrl.org/news/stories/2006/05/19/2/?nc=1

 SA> I grew-up in a small community in Central Texas where my friends lived
 SA> a  good distance away (not easily walking distance), so we talked to
 SA> each  other on the phone quite abit.  Myself along with many of my
 SA> friends got  into computers in Middle School (this was about 1988) and
 SA> shortly after we  discovered modems and BBSes.  What a wonderful
 SA> technology!  We could  communicate with not only friends across town
 SA> but also people across the  globe!  I remember the first time I jumped
 SA> on a Fidonet echo and someone  replied back from over seas, it was for
 SA> lack of a better word, magical!   

   My love of the "wireless" started in the 1950s, listening to stations
all over the globe.  Having a better then average radio helped, as well
the location, and freedom to erect some big antennas.

   CB .... CRS <USA> or GRS <Canada> came in Canada im March 1962, and
it was great until the late  1970s, when it was just a crazy nut band.
I enjoyed all my friends on "CB" ...miss them, but wish and hope they
are having a good life somewhere....those years as a teen with CB
and radio were magic too, as we were very close to Amateur Radio with
many CB'ers being hams, and of course ch 1,2 and 3 in Canada were
ham frequencys for many years.  aaah the magic....


   My modems and BBSing came into my life in 1993 with my own BBS and
a network started here..it was fun, and we got as far as Europe with
nodes then it all collapsed as Internet came into the area...of course
my radio BBS was and still is going, providing the International
flavour you mentioned and yes the magic.

 SA> Most of us had one phone line homes, so with parents not quite
 SA> appreciating  the screaming carrier when they picked-up the phone, I
 SA> along with other  friends started getting CB radios in our rooms and
 SA> after we turned driving  age in our cars.  We CB'ed during the day and
 SA> hit the BBSes late at night.   Though CB Radio wasn't global, we could
 SA> talk to folks on the interstate who  were from all over the country and
 SA> world... which was equally neat. 

   Never had them together, but I can appreciate the feeling....

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

   mmmm I met my wife via mIRC when I was trying to hook up a dialup
link to my BBS to mIRC .... so fond memorys of mIRC which has changed
drastic.

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

    Aaahh but Sam it is the "rf" magic you seek, not via a telephone
or cell phone, which depends on so many links....your "hf" can reach
France easy even on 10meter fm...   so the magic continues.... <g>

 SA> I never got my amateur radio license, but I've always wanted to get it
 SA> and  I'm working towards it now.  I wish I could've felt the magic of
 SA> talking  with someone across the globe via radio before the Internet
 SA> made it such a  common thing.  The Internet has done what many people
 SA> hoped it would do, it  made global communication simple and common
 SA> place, but look at what it has  taken away.  Why would a kid want to
 SA> get into ham radios if they can do the  same thing via the Internet or
 SA> cell phone?  Nostalgia plays a huge part in  it too, but for someone
 SA> without that nostalgic memory of "the way it once  was", what else is
 SA> there?  I see this daily with BBSing, why use a BBS when  you have the
 SA> WWW?

   Agreed...know all too well what you are saying....
 
 SA> I'm not saying such things are dead, I still plan on getting my
 SA> amateur  license soon, but I hate that the magic might not be there. 
 SA> Just the  simple fact that the ARRL president needed to post such an
 SA> article proves  the magic is gone for new comers.  Also they keep
 SA> speaking of making the  tests easier to pass, and for the same reasons.
 SA>
 SA> My wife and I got married six months ago, and we're planning on
 SA> starting a  family soon.  Our hope is that our child not be exposed to

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