DX Summit and OH8X Radio Arcala challenge is bold, daring, and innovative. Read about their initiative (link).Multi-Single (M/S) Low Power.
YouTube video (link).
Listen to the team in action on 40m CW. Thanks DS1REE!
Chase DX!
Read comment (link).
Happy to note that you enjoyed the VaQP (link) last weekend. It was a RadioSport weekend indeed with multiple contests vying for Qs and multipliers. That creates a whole lot of fun as mentioned in your comment.
There is an on-going discussion concerning the impact of multiple RadioSport events on any given weekend and one's logging program. I'm curious 'how' RadioSport sponsors choose a particular exchange for their contest? Afterall, is there standardization across the many logging programs as to exchange acceptance within the dialogue box especially during a weekend like last? And, of course, the old 599 horse and its utility as well.
I like the idea of grouping state QSO parties on the weekend. Hope to see you in the California QSO Party later in the year.
Contest on!
Single Operator CW.
In-State Single Operator All-Band (SOAB) CW Only.
Out of State.
Out of State Single Operator All Band (SOAB).
G4VXE received an email from Roger, G3SXW who challenged the legitimacy of the EP2IA operation. The challenge is posted on G4VXE's blog (link). Additionally, a Google search pulled up the following (link) on DXInfo | Your DX web resource wherein Roger notes a bogus EP2IA QSL route.
Currently, EP2IA QRV on 40m CW has directed other operators to QSL via QRZ however Roger, G3SXW has operated using the same call sign in the past (reference link). Please be cautious of this operation especially given the cross reference check of G3SXW's past operation as EP2IA.
73 from the shackadelic.
Many thanks Stan, SQ8X and Pete, SQ9DIE for transmitting the VK9LA Lord Howe Island DXpedition experience into the shackaverse. I'm enjoying your updates on Twitter (@vk9la) and setting up your really simple syndication (RSS) feed in my Google Reader as well. Best wishes and many Qs to the team from Shell Beach.
Chase DX!
I am taking responsibility for my ham radio appliance operator skill and knowledge. Unfortunately, nature versus nurture conspired against me, and I did not get the requisite intelligence quotient necessary to cipher math, understand an electronic schematic, or build an efficient radio using spare parts.
My grandfather, however, recognized potential. He believed in me, enough so, that he and my grandmother traveled from Waukegan, Illinois to Sharon, Pennsylvania to give me a gift for the future. He sat with me in the dining room pounding out Morse code on a Radio Shack oscillator. Grandpa taught me basic electronic theory as well.
I failed the code test three times prior to his arrival. I was, in effect, on my own in the learning process until he took an active interest in my potential. My grandfather has since passed on and his ham radio legacy lives through me. I'm forever grateful for his sacrifice and his patience. I wanted to be a ham radio operator and with his hand up that goal was achieved.
The Challenge Ahead.
Recently, three blog postings have come to my attention; The K3NG Report [Just What Is the "Dumbing Down" of Amateur Radio?]; KE9V | Calling CQ [Hazing Averted]; AB9RF's Nonbovine Ruminations [Amateur Radio Licensing Exams] and; G4ILO's Digital voice: the way forward?, each post is insightful. K3NG, KE9V, and AB9RF responded to a petition submitted by Mr. Michael Mancuso, KI4NGN (pdf link) with the Federal Communication Commission (FCC). Mancuso wanted to expand the role of the FCC within Amateur Radio's testing process and his petition was denied.
For me, Mancuso's motive was ill conceived and short sighted lacking a future vision for Amateur Radio, other than, constructing a barrier to entry. Whereas G4ILO submitted in his posting, Digital voice: the way forward, "I believe these increasingly complex technologies, whilst interesting to those few amateurs with the skills to understand them and develop them, reduce most of us to the role of mere end-users."
Speaking for the Appliance Operator.
I wanted to be a ham radio operator because of my fascination with wireless communication. Ham radio was the gateway into the guilds of science. More so, ham radio for me, is cool but my cool may not be your cool.
However I did not stop because I did not understand.
Certainly, wireless systems are evolving and that is discovery and innovation working hand-in-hand. Retreat is not the answer neither is expanding the role of the FCC. For me, retrenchment and testing expansion, are counter productive. The future of Amateur Radio depends on discovery and innovation. We need new minds working on discoveries that do not even exist.
Clearly, the appliance operator label is a symptom of attitudinal refusal to accept the results of discovery and innovation. Secondly, Amateur Radio is effectively fractured along the lines of legacy wireless and digital wireless. The question is, who is moving Amateur Radio into the mid-21st Century, where innovators are creating modes and technologies that do not even exist.
Retrenchment and test question expansion is not the way forward.
The Way Forward?
Black box magic is another's science. Dale N. Hatfield, W0IFO hypothesized the future of Amateur Radio in the 21st Century (link). Also, read posting, The Future of Ham Radio | 2000.06.17 "The Role of Amateur Radio in the New Century" By Dale N. Hatfield, W0IFO.
He called attention to software defined radio (SDR) and advanced spectrum management. Efficiency is best exemplified by the on-going developments within software defined and cognitive radio systems (link, link). Both are incubator technologies, at least for me, leading to future discovery and economic innovation.
In contrast, ensuring technological competency is not the responsibility of the FCC, in fact, it is my responsibility. The way forward maybe in the methods of organization, constructing incentivized competition, and economic innovation.
I submit creating ham radio incubator clubs who rally human capital and material resources around specific technological themes. Additionally, one might perceive ham radio incubator clubs as micro-manufacturers producing specific ham radio products. Furthermore, if one such product achieved game changing status, an incubator club might consider applying for a patent.
Appliance operator is a mere label as black box magic is another's science. I have not forgotten how much potential is scattered across the new economic landscape just as my grandfather saw the potential in me. And, certainly, at this crux moment in ham radio history, the need for new minds working on discoveries that do not exist, is the way forward.
73 from the shackadelic.
