Wayne,
Nicely put and so true. However as I remember the Novice bands were
a zoo, General class operators avoided us. A CQ could go on for several
minutes but it was a fun playpen. Wow staying up to 2 AM could yield a
QSO in Oklahoma all the way from Virginia on 40M. That was a QSO you
could brag about. My surplus TCS rig would not go onto 15M so real DX was
pretty much out for the first two months of my Novice ticket, then the
General Class exam was passed and what a difference. They were good days
but the chirp is well left in the past.
Yes we need to return to the true path of CW, FT8 is a drug and
makes many of us lazy, mea maxima culpa. Thank you Wayne.
73 Doug EI2CN
-----Original Message-----
From: elecraft-boun...@mailman.qth.net <elecraft-boun...@mailman.qth.net> On
Behalf Of Wayne Burdick
Sent: Thursday 28 January 2021 18:11
To: Elecraft Reflector <elecraft@mailman.qth.net>
Subject: [Elecraft] Signals wild...signals caged
My son is an avid birdwatcher. As his understudy, I've learned the names of
the birds that hang out in our yard and gather at local wetlands.
On a recent walk we saw one of our favorites, an American kestrel, a small
raptor that terrorizes lizards and mice in the foothills on both sides of
the San Francisco Bay. The bird's coloration is a surprising mix of blue,
brown, orange, yellow, and white, adorned with an array of black dots.
Finding a kestrel in the wild is like stumbling upon a rare gem, lying on
the ground.
The bird reminded me that when I was a kid, I often hunted for gems of a
different sort: DX. I was a novice, and in the early 1970s, novices were
limited to working DX Of The First Kind. CW.
Like brightly colored birds, each CW signal arriving from a distant land was
unique.
Several factors were involved. In those days most ops used bugs or straight
keys, so each operator had an identifiable fist. Rigs were not as stable as
they are now, yielding timbres with a motley mix of buzz, drift, and chirp.
Add fading and noise to the mix, and you had no shortage of audible
intrigue.
In fact -- trust me on this one -- RST reports haven't always ended with a
dependable "9." I once gave out an RST of 332. I'll never forget that poor
soul's chaotic whoop, best described as a singular blend of yodel and kazoo.
Over time I became something of a CW pathologist, keenly aware of each
station's affliction, including my own. These variations were useful. You
could tell who you'd already worked. If you were a regular on the novice
bands, you'd even get to know fellow travelers by their frequencies, since
many, like me, were "rock-bound" -- slaves to a handful of crystals. VFOs
were starting to make an appearance in novice gear...but see "chirp," above.
Now, in 2021, the chirp is gone.
CW signals still have many distinguishing traits, though. These include
speed, keying weight, the operator's affectations and favored prosigns, and
direction-specific propagation anomalies.
Here's where we stretch the central metaphor to just about max.
If randomly occurring CW signals on our bands are creatures of the wild,
then...are FT8 stations the occupants of an urban zoo? Don't get me wrong:
It's a pleasant place, with free tram rides, open 24 hours a day. The
diversity of species is unprecedented.
But imagine, on a given day, that you've sampled the zoo's exotic offerings,
memorized the brochure, bought the t-shirt, and partaken of the sumptuous
snack bar. What next?
Take a walk on the wild side.
Yank the cord and jump off the tram at an unmarked stop. Hop the fence. Work
your way down the unpaved trail from the upper mesa to the open savannah,
then sit on the ten-foot wall and dangle your feet over the edge.
Welcome to the ecosystem of beings who are free to roam. They may be
camouflaged, blending into the background. And if you listen carefully,
you'll hear a hundred variations on their timeless song...CQ.
Wayne
N6KR
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