Text 1829, 89 rader
Skriven 2007-07-30 21:55:07 av Thom LaCosta (1:261/1352.0)
   Kommentar till text 1827 av Michiel van der Vlist (2:280/5555)
Ärende: any geratol net folks lur
=================================
Michiel van der Vlist wrote in a message to Thom LaCosta:

 MvdV> Hello Thom,

 MvdV> 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.

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

Right...but equally we have the right to say that we don't like it, wouldn't
enjoy it, have little value for it.

 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.

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

Now there's a thought....but then again, it wouldn't be "amateur" radio would
it (g).

 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.

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

Yes, technically...but when I hear folks saying they operated DX on echolink I
have to chuckle....I would say that the person operating the station that
interfaces to the echolink system is using ham radio....but the folks on the
Internet side are exactly what you said...."users". 

There's an interesting and NOT ham radio service on the Internet....it is
strickly for code...there are folks who use it for American Morse and the more
familiar code hams use.  I get on now an then, and have met some of the
professional code operators who did it for a living....it's not ham radio, not
presented as such, but it's a great way to keep morse alive.

 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.

 MvdV> Thirty five years ago when I was dreaming about such a system.

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

Sounds fascinating....were all the participants hams?

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

None, other than an exercise in technology....and that's a radical departure
from what some hams describe as amateur radio.

Did I recall that you no longer get on HF?  I have been off for a bit...but am
in the process of erecting some antenna in my postage-stamp sized property...I
just invested in an ELecraft K3 (www.elecraft.com) ... After sinking the amount
of money in it that I did...I'll have to try SSB again, and all those digital
modes...perhaps we can have a QSO.


73 k3hrn
thom
http://www.tlchost.net/echolist/ 
--- GEcho 1.20/Pro
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