wrote:
A fellow ham suggested I visit www.qsonet.com. Here is a summary of
what I found.
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Are you tired of buying or building amateur radio equipment?
ACtually, no.
Perhaps
putting up an antenna isn't fun anymore. Maybe straining for DX is
taking too much effort.
I love this stuff.
Well don't despair - there is an alternative.

You need to consider becoming one of the "next generation" hams.
Communicate around the world using your computer and special "radio"
software. Traditional VoIP programs like eQSO, Echolink and Skype
don't make you feel like a "real ham". You need to take the next step
and use the Virtual Ionosphere and the CQ100 Transceiver. Call CQ,
twiddle the knobs, send CW and RTTY, use ham lingo and make contacts
around the world. However, you will need a ham ticket and $89 (after
the trial period) in order to use this next generation "radio"
simulator.
Twiddle the knobs, indeed. $89 is a lot to spend to basically access a
newsgroup-pretending-to-be-an-"ionosphere"

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Geez - I hope this isn't a glimpse of the future. I think I'll just
keep building stuff and be a "relic" ham.

This is definitely NOT the future of ham radio. UNLESS, there is NO
future to ham radio.


Roger