Posts from — March 2008

One of the more interesting things about this site is that hams e-mail me more about my articles instead of commenting on them here on the site. While I don’t mind the e-mails, I’d rather you share your comments about the articles in the comment section.

Comments are an invaluable resource on a blog. Comments allow you to extend the conversation, add additional information about the subject of the article, and ask questions that you want answered that myself or others could answer for you. I will often learn more from the comments on the article than from the article itself. Comments rock!

How do you find the comment section?

Right down at the bottom of each article is the date the article was posted and then to the right of it is a link to the comments. It will either say “No comments” or the number of comments on the article such as “3 comments.”

Click on that link and you will be taken to a page where you can enter in your comments at the bottom of the article. The comment form looks like this:

I usually put in my name in as Scot, K9JY, or just K9JY.

The e-mail is required and I use it so I can get a hold of you if something is weird about the comment. The e-mail address does not show on the comment form when completed. I perfectly respect your e-mail address; I hate spam. The e-mail address is also used if you choose to have further comments sent to you; but, regardless, the e-mail address is not shown.

If you don’t have a web site, no need to enter one. Otherwise you enter it in full, such as: http://k9jy.com

The big box is where you type your comment about the article. For those who love HTML (not me), you can imbed HTML in the comment.

Checking the box by the “Notify me of followup comments via e-mail” gives you the opportunity to have further comments on the article e-mailed to your same e-mail address you provided so you don’t have to return to the site. This is on a per article basis and you can opt out any time for that article using the link at the bottom of the e-mail you will get. It allows you to effortlessly stay in the conversation.

Finally, clicking on “Submit” will send your comment on its way.

Now, I moderate your first comment, but only your first. After that, your comment will go straight to the article. The reason I moderate your first comment is I get thousands of spam comments from machines and the software I use doesn’t get them all. So I review all first comments before they go on the site. Once I figure out that you are a trusted user and not some machine, we’re golden.

Comments help build the conversation around the subject of the article. I’ve learned a tremendous amount from the comments done on other blogs — sometimes more than the article itself. So extend the conversation and information by submitting a comment. Your fellow hams will appreciate it.

Scot, K9JY

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There are some stations not sending the signal report as part of the contest exchange in the CQ WW Prefix contest this weekend — just the serial number. Some people aren’t happy about it since sending the signal report is part of the rules.

But, in every contest I’ve been in, the signal report is the same: 59 for SSB Contests and 599 for CW/RTTY Contests. Of course, in the thousands of contacts I’ve made as a contester, there have been a handful of operators who gave something different for the signal report. But only a handful.

In addition, all of the contest logging programs automatically default to the 59/599 signal report for the field in the exchange.

And I haven’t heard of anyone getting disqualified for not providing the signal report; it will be interesting to see if this happens from this contest.

Scot, K9JY

I read a blog post the other day from February (sorry, I don’t remember which post!) that marked the one year anniversary of the no-code license. While much has been talked about with no-code both good and bad, while reading that particular article I finally had a Blinding Flash of the Obvious:

The real issue isn’t code or no-code, the real issue is how adaptable is the amateur radio service to change?

Humans are tremendously adaptable. Companies are adaptable. Organizations are adaptable.

How’s our ham radio service doing on the adaptability scale?

I originally thought that radio doesn’t adapt well or that quickly. But, after thinking about that a bit, I think that’s incorrect. Radio is adopting to change very quickly. Just think about some of the changes over the last few years:

• Computers are now hooked to virtually all ham shacks
• Software for use with radio has significantly increased
• Contesting methods, education, software and participation have significantly changed
• DXpeditions have become significantly better in terms of operators, logistics, logging, publishing logs
• LoTW has moved to electronic confirmation of contacts
• Global QSL has provided a service for DX bureau cards
• Ham radio presence on the web has increased significantly
• Digital modes have significantly increased in number and participation

Is everything wonderful? Nope. Rules, necessarily because of FCC involvement, take time. Clubs come and go, depending upon the club leadership and the club mission. Debates about a particular segment of the hobby (e.g., no-code licenses) can degrade into pet peeves instead of being about the overall hobby. DX cops still think they can direct traffic for DXpeditions, while simply fulfilling their need to be shouted upon.

That’s going to happen.

But if you look under the hood, the hobby is significantly different than it was ten, even five, years ago.

Adaptability to change is critical to keeping the hobby — or any organization — at the forefront. How do you think we’re doing?

Scot, K9JY

With the end of the TX5C DXpedition, QSL cards will be flying through the air to confirm the contact.

But do you really want the card? Or do you really want the confirmation to be part of your DXCC total?

It’s an important question. There is a tremendous amount of post DXpedition operator time spent on the QSL function. The QSLing, in fact, goes on for years after the event (I still get VP9 cards from my DXpedition there in 2005).

To be perfectly honest, QSLing is not what I came into the hobby to do. I came into operate. But, if you operate, especially in DXpeditions and contests, you will get QSL cards — thousands of them.

It’s not so much the cost of the cards, but the TIME. Finding time to go through the log, write out the card (almost as fast as creating a label), getting the card into the envelope, putting on the right number of stamps, and getting them into the mailbox or bureau pile (in country order…) is just a real pain.

On the other hand, confirming contacts via Log of The World is a piece of cake. After uploading the LoTW file for VP9, some 89 countries were confirmed and a total of some 300 contacts were confirmed for DXCC credit — two days after I came home from the DXpedition.

With the advent of Global QSL, bureau cards became just as easy to do. Take the bureau card, tag the file, export the file and upload it to Global QSL and the rest is done by them. I can’t tell you how much time has been saved using these two methods of confirming the contact.

Now, some people really want a card they can hang on the wall. Mine are all in files by country — and I haven’t looked at them for years and am seriously considering throwing them all out.

The saying goes that the final courtesy of a QSO is a QSL. But is the final courtesy the card? Or the confirmation of the contact?

Scot, K9JY

The Marion Island DXpedition web site is up. The DXpedition is scheduled for May of this year and the web site will be a great place to follow the progress. You can subscribe to changes on the site through their RSS (Really Simple Syndication) feed (http://zs8t.net/feed/) and participate in their forum.

I don’t need Marion Island for a new one, but for those who do, this is an impressive and informative site.

Scot, K9JY

PS Hat tip: Christian, DL6KAC