Thank you Wy, that was Very kind of you !...
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I have this innate tendency to take a topic off into the wilds, so to prove I can stay on a subject, tho only briefly.....
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This past weekend I called home-- back west, to my friend who now has my former job in New Mexico. Among the myriad of things we discussed was her brief operation during the June VHF contest (sorry, a little off here, since this wasn't Field Day.. but close enuff, Guys??)
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She told me that from her location (near Santa Fe) the first (and her only contest day,) --- Six opened into north and central Mexico..... and only Mexico. After a brief XE pile-up (hows that for 6 ! ) the band closed...... that is, until about 2 hours later when (she had set her radio's squelch) ...on 50.125 she heard someone break thru calling "CQ Contest." Listening more closely, it was a KH6 !..
She snagged 'em ! 20 watts to a vertical.. .the return of F skip?.... the contact lasted only a few minutes, but the KH6 said she was his first and only non-California contact. Don't open the champagne bottles over F skip yet... that KH6 was the last station she heard, or "worked."
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Okay, I was trying real hard to be good; now--
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I appreciate the new digital modes, but to be honest, my whole career up until recently has been a bunch of digital, beneath- the-noise projects. Maybe I have burned out on "waterfall" (and their equivalents). I will say that the concept of the low power'd station, the below the noise signal detection-- is fascinating, and I think this is the future of radio communications. At the same time, however, its very primitive. When it evolves to the plug-and-play on the scale of present real time voice communications- call me.
Until then, like so many others, ham radio is about talking to people.The digital stuff I got enuff of with my work..... just saying this fellows...
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I don't feel that I have to be cutting edge when it comes to my hobby's. Heck, years ago (where we could get away with it) I tried spark gap... and made a "QSO" of several miles. To me that's the stuff of fun in ham radio (tho I'd suggest not trying spark--- maybe AM on a home made tube transmitter-- experiment-- like maybe seeing the differences between plate and grid modulation?? play with it).... there is nothing like the fun of being a dinosaur. And awaiting the next digital break thru..
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Lauri