"BUT Echo will asist your modulation when talking to a station a bit out there in the distance "
Since when? A low signal to noise ratio is bad enough but when you degrade intelligibility it only gets harder to hear. Under weak signal conditions what is needed is clarity, not distortion. Frankly under any signal conditions clarity is preferable to ear bleed.
"AND ponder this, YOU are what makes ANY radio system good OR bad."
There is nothing to ponder when you consider the fact the operator has full control over the system, not the other way round.
"If you diss one over another you are not any better then someone who uses the system incorrectly."
As Colonel Potter was so fond of saying, HORSE HOCKEY! If good operators are no better than poor ones there's something terribly wrong with your thinking.
"The question is why do some Good Buddies feel the need to have to add more signal distorting equipment to their radio so they have add talk back so they can hear just how distorted their signal is?"
So they can confirm the reason why they get poor signal reports and the other guy keeps asking for them to repeat what they said. On the other hand they think it sounds cool and there's nothing can compare with a cool fool when it comes to stroking one's own ego.
Somehow that goofy kid Stewart on MAD TV comes to mind; "Hey look what I can do!"
The bottom line here is some people just can't get it through their heads that a clean signal with good intelligibility will get them farther than audio that sounds like it was processed with a cheese grater.
Alain, It's darn well past time I speak up and now I ask you why you don't find another house to haunt? You're a STALKER and a monkey on my back, NOW GET LOST!