Text 1827, 61 rader
Skriven 2007-07-30 23:25:22 av Michiel van der Vlist (2:280/5555)
     Kommentar till en text av Thom LaCosta (1:261/1352.0)
Ärende: any geratol net folks lur
=================================
Hello Thom,

On Sunday July 29 2007 19:42, you wrote to me:

 MvdV>> What is left is doing morse for fun. And that means no
 MvdV>> computer.

 TL> Perhaps it might be stated that what is left is doing morse for fun,
 TL> and how it's done is up to the operator.

Good point. If someone gets fun out of doing CW by means of a computer, who am
I to say he/she shouldn't?

 TL> We could also say that morse with a keyer and paddles is not morse, or
 TL> that morse with a bug isn't morse....but all of them are as valid as
 TL> the operator and the person on the the other end make them.

The difference is that with a keyer or paddles the operator still has to know
morse to communicate with others using the same technique. When they both use a
computer and have the computer generate morse code from the keyboard and
reversely let the computer convert the dots and dashes into characters on the
screen, the operators have no need to know mrose at all. All they need to know
is how to operate the computer. They may as well hire a professional telegraph
operator...

 TL> One discussion that comes up on a regular basis on several of the ham
 TL> mailing lists is whether or not Echolink is ham radio.

Echolink obviously involves ham radio. And from the POV of the licensee
responsible for the TX that eventually puts the signal on the air, it is ham
radio. But not from the POV of the person holding the actual mike. He is just a
"user".

 TL> Perhaps the next frontier will be when my automated station has a qso
 TL> with your automated station, and both of them exchange electronic QSLs
 TL> while we attend to other hobbies.

Thirty five years ago when I was dreaming about such a system. Thirty years ago
when I got he opportunity to learn myself to program on a mini that was left in
my care, I began to realize that it might be more than a dream. Soon after, the
first programmes that could actually decode morse began to emerge. Twenty five
years ago I became an expert in assembly language and I realised that such an
automated system was within the realm of the possible. And not just that, but
that *I* had it in me to actually build it. ... And then I lost interest.

I have done many experiments with computers linked to amateur radio. At one
point - way before the advent of packet radio - I had a network of half a dozen
statons set up with friends and we could exchange messages and files. We could
even turn each other's beams. That is, my friends could download/upload files
from/to my system en turn my beam while I was attending other things and vice
versa. And yes, they could request a qsl card which would then be sent to them
as a file, which they could print and hang on the wall.

But letting the computers talk to each other without a human to initiate the
sequence? It could be done but what's that point?


73, Michiel, PA0MMV

--- GoldED+/W32-MSVC 1.1.5-b20060315
 * Origin: http://www.vlist.eu (2:280/5555)