Thanks for a great description Wayne.
Funny you should mention this. I was working in my ham shack/shop this
past Monday, with my brother doing some spray painting and afterwards,
he sat down and looked for 40 meter contacts on CW. It was Monday night
novice rig night apparently. After dinner and a bit of TV with the
missus, I went out to turn things off in the shack. My brother had left
and kept all the lights and rigs turned on. I sat down on 40 and
watched the computer screen to see what came over the transom on FT-8.
There was a QRP station in Cuba calling CQ. I set my power to 5 watts
and called and called with no luck. Actually, I just sat there watching,
and the computer did most of the work. After that episode, I decided I
needed to do something a bit more interesting, so thought I should check
out 160 meter CW before I shut the K3 off.
I worked a few European stations with typical signal reports for a
lackluster evening on 160. I then saw RBN spots from Europe suddenly
rise, so I tried a few CQs. I was answered by a rather weak but Q5
station from Russia. I answered him, but he did not return. A few more
calls and he finally came back and gave me a very weak report. I had
never heard this station before. I looked up his address after the QSO
and was amazed to find that his location was just north of the border of
eastern Mongolia. (Grid OO62!) He was about on the same longitude as
Beijing, China! Talk about a walk on the wild side! About 15 minutes
later R8WF called me again and he was very loud and sent me a new report
of 589! It was just after his Sunrise and the peak was awesome to say
the least! I am sure he was just as excited as I was to bag such an
interesting QSO. The direct path from me to R8WF is 360 degrees, or
straight across the North Pole. I am so glad that I had the opportunity
to be there when the stars and planets had aligned so well. Such magic
moments are treasured.
Dave K1WHS
On 1/28/2021 1:11 PM, Wayne Burdick wrote:
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
______________________________________________________________
Elecraft mailing list
Home: http://mailman.qth.net/mailman/listinfo/elecraft
Help: http://mailman.qth.net/mmfaq.htm
Post: mailto:Elecraft@mailman.qth.net
This list hosted by: http://www.qsl.net
Please help support this email list: http://www.qsl.net/donate.html
Message delivered to k1...@metrocast.net
______________________________________________________________
Elecraft mailing list
Home: http://mailman.qth.net/mailman/listinfo/elecraft
Help: http://mailman.qth.net/mmfaq.htm
Post: mailto:Elecraft@mailman.qth.net
This list hosted by: http://www.qsl.net
Please help support this email list: http://www.qsl.net/donate.html
Message delivered to arch...@mail-archive.com
