Peter - Thanks for your comments. I knew that ham radio was a
very big tent, but I didn't know that building a station was a
goal in and of itself for some hams. My view of the tent has
gotten bigger.
I'm a bit blind in the area of automatic radio. I've never run
CWSkimmer. I don't know of any similar program for voice modes.
My interests are mostly in emergency services and building
equipment and using it on the air. I also get a lot of pleasure
in club contesting at events like field day and CQP. I chase DX
"because it's there" and working through a pileup with 100W and
wire antennas is a challenge.
Because of my emergency service interest, I tend to avoid the JT
modes because they can't be used to send complex messages like,
"We need 5 units of type O+ blood." Emergency preparedness makes
me want to be able to send and receive CW without a computer
because CW gives me the best chance of cobbling something
together when "the bad thing" really happens.
As far as building equipment goes, I figure that hams can be
sorted into these groups:
People who buy equipment to build a station
People who buy kits to build a station.
People who build circuits from books/magazines to build a station
People who design their own equipment to build a station
All of these are legitimate parts of the hobby.
I have a foot in at least every category. I have bought radios
for my cars. I have built radio kits for general use. I have
built circuits from books, and I have designed my own automatic
antenna switch controller and built it from scratch. The people
I am in total awe of are the ones that design and build their
own transceivers. Thank, Wayne and Eric and the rest at Elecraft
for sharing your designs.
73 Bill AE6JV
-----------------------------------------------------------------------
Bill Frantz | Security is like Government | Periwinkle
(408)356-8506 | services. The market doesn't | 16345
Englewood Ave
www.pwpconsult.com | want to pay for them. | Los Gatos,
CA 95032
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