Jeff Liebermann wrote:


For someone that's been in the hobby from before I could (legally)
drive a car, the magic is gone.

For you, it is perhaps. Not for me.


To someone new to the hobby,
communicating with peoples on the other side of the planet is
commonplace.

Has been for years.


Pickup a cell phone, dial, and talk. There's no magic
in that.

I remember making telephone calls to other countries when I was a little
kid in the 60's. The Transatlantic cable was laid in the mid 19th
century. People could talk a long way away then too. Worldwide
communications pre-dates radio communications. It's a matter of
infrastructure.

some snippage

I like to think of myself of being part of the solution, rather than
the prophet of doom and despair. Please ignore me and move on.

Not trying to bust your chops or anything, Jeff, but if you have no more
magic in you for Ham radio, its going to be really hard being part of
the solution.

- 73 de Mike N3LI -

On Tue, 15 Dec 2009 18:07:32 -0500, Mike Coslo wrote:

Pickup a cell phone, dial, and talk. There's no magic
in that.

I remember making telephone calls to other countries when I was a little
kid in the 60's. The Transatlantic cable was laid in the mid 19th
century. People could talk a long way away then too. Worldwide
communications pre-dates radio communications. It's a matter of
infrastructure.

I think I will drop my oar into this one too.

Being able to call someone in China is not the same thing as calling
out, and getting a response from someone in China. A.G. Bell's
practical invention of telephony long preceded practical (or even
impractical) radiotelephony and no one seemed to care, but many got
excited.

And to invert the argument. When I lived in Europe in the late 50s
early 60s, Paris had such a funky telephone system that reportedly you
could dial a "special number" that put you into an open common trunk
where others would have been already deep in spontaneous conversation.
It was very popular and "exciting...." until they fixed it (in their
own time, of course - for the French that could have been many years
later).

73's
Richard Clark, KB7QHC

Richard Clark wrote:

And to invert the argument. When I lived in Europe in the late 50s
early 60s, Paris had such a funky telephone system that reportedly you
could dial a "special number" that put you into an open common trunk
where others would have been already deep in spontaneous conversation.
It was very popular and "exciting...." until they fixed it (in their
own time, of course - for the French that could have been many years
later).

73's
Richard Clark, KB7QHC

It probably wasn't "funky". It was just hacked.

It also existed in the US. The chances are that it was the same
destination type as it was here. In the US you could dial a number that
effectively put you into a conference. It was used for telco meet-me
maintenance traffic. Neither person needed to know the other's number.
I know someone that used to do music requests to their 6 MHz
(plus/minus) pirate broadcasts using this hidden conference bridge.
They were the first on the air as a pirate station in the US as far as I
know.

I don't condone it, but it was a long time ago, and the persons involved
have paid their dues. And are all good taxpaying citizens now.

tom
K0TAR