From: Mike Coslo on Thurs 26 May 2005 22:04


Should I be mad at the person who spends $500 today because s/he got a
new Dell for 1/4 what I paid 8 years ago?

Obviously some do!

I just like to tweak some of the folk who *know* that the hams of old
were so superior. As time goes on, I hear of old time 20 meter and 80
meter shenanigans, and there was no no-coders to blame it on, just
people who passed their difficult tests in front of a steely eyed F.C.C
agent, after having to travel 5000 miles in a blizzard or monsoon or
dust storm or whatever with cardboard tied to their feet and two hot
potatoes in their pockets for sustenance... ;^)

[don't forget uphill both ways... :-) ]

Things like that are for the most part just examples of how time has
changed.

Ah, but some PEOPLE don't change that much, Mike! :-)

Everything has to be to THEIR WAY when they "made their mark"
as valiant Radio Pioneers of HF the "hard way," they thought
they were the only ones who "worked for it!" [all others got
it "free" or something, never ever actually working for
anything]

In 1945 a young "unknown" writer got an article published in
Wireless World magazine about a revolutionary new idea of using
three satellites in geosynchronous orbits to relay communications
around the globe. Of course, nobody had yet put any satellites
UP there, much less develop rockets that could place them there.
"Experts" in radio of that time generally thought it too "blue
sky" to be practical, a few saying it was "preposterous." About
1998 (give or take) there was a lot of argument about who could
be alloted the LAST of the equatorial orbits for communications
satellites...the spaces had been FILLED. 24/7 communications
satellites have been a common thing for over two decades now,
none of them bothered by the vagaries of the ionosphere.

The young writer had worked for the RAF during WW2 developing
GCA (Ground Controlled Approach) or "blind landing system."
He was a junior "boffin" or technical engineer, had never built
such a communications system before, never even worked on
rockets. He sort of dropped out of the electronics field and
became a novelist, concentrating on science-fiction. He's still
living, in Sri Lanka, still writing, still active. His name is
Arthur C. Clarke, author of dozens of best-selling novels.

If Clarke had such an "interest" in radio and communications,
then he should have become a licensed radio amateur in the
UK FIRST according to the Political Correctness of some in
here. Can't have any of that speculative nonsense about the
future! Everything "best" can only be done on HF bands and
the "best" way to do that is by morse code! [that's why all
the other radio services on HF still use morse code? :-) ]

I guess it is VITAL and IMPORTANT that ALL amateurs KEEP all
the anachronisms of the past alive, as A Living Museum of
Radio, doing EXACTLY as the pioneers did it over a half
century ago. NO deviations, everything according to
Procedure, By the Book, Tradition held to the nth degree,
Marching In Ranks to the Morse Drumbeat, etc., just as
these other expert gurus of amateur radio did in Their youth.

All that for a HOBBY...?

bit, bit