[IRCA] Hams and SWL/MW DXing

["David Hochfelder" <xxmugginsxx@xxxxxxxxx>]

First off, Colin, the important thing to keep in mind is that DXing is a
hobby, just like ham radio.  What hobbies you pursue is a matter of taste,
and not a mark of moral/intellectual superiority, so don't worry about what
elitist hams might think.

I'm a licensed ham and I expect that a good percentage of DXers are too.
I'll bet the majority of hams got into it through either CB radio or DXing.
Once you "shoot skip" or hear a station from a thousand miles away on AM,
you're hooked.  I think of my hobby as radio communications generally, which
includes ham operating and DX listening.  I do much more DXing than
transmitting these days because I'm space limited and don't have room for a
decent HF antenna.  I used to have a 30M dipole and did a lot of CW QRP
operating, but I probably haven't touched my key in at least a year.  I hope
that changes or I figure out a workable antenna solution:  there's no thrill
like having someone from Hawaii or Ukraine answer a 5W CQ.

I usually explain my hobby as radio communications when people ask about
it.  Most people have some sense of what ham radio is, although I have
gotten the "People still do that?" reaction more than once.  I actually have
a harder time explaining DXing, so I usually just say that I collect radio
stations by trying to hear ones I haven't already.  I've gotten follow-up
questions about whether I do this on the Internet, and I explain that if I
want to eat fish, I'll go to the store and buy it, but fishing is completely
different.

So do what you enjoy and don't worry about what others think of it.

Dave, N2HTA
Highland Park, NJ

Date: Mon, 18 Sep 2006 19:01:32 -0700
> From: cafe@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
> Subject: [IRCA] Semi-OT, maybe not - Poll question
> To: irca@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
> Message-ID: <450f4f7c-f173@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>
> Content-Type: text/plain
>
> I had an e-mail from an Amateur Radio operator
> today who refered to SWL/DXing as an interesting
> "Sub-Hobby" of Ham Radio.
>
> Now - I am sure to open up a can of worms
> and I am sure this issue has been discussed to
> death... but.
>
> I have been SWL/DXing since 1971 -- In 1973 I studied
> for the Canadian Amateur ticket (while attending the
> occasional local Ham radio club meetings) and found
> the attitude of some of the young, newer Hams quite
> off-putting. Their attitude was pretty much: "You are
> either a Ham or a CBer.
> SWL/DXers are either failed hams or people that just
> do not have what it takes to be hams."
>
> This statement so resonated with me way back in the
> mid-seventies that I decided that I could not be
> bothered with this kind of elitist claptrap.
>
> Truth be told, every other Amateur radio operator
> over the age of about 25 had quite a different
> attitude -- more of a nurturing quality but still
> holding to the "Every DXer/SWL will ONE DAY become a HAM..."
>
> Funny how this still resonates with me - my baggage I guess. :-)
>
> Anyhow - my question is: Do Amateur radio ops and SWL/DXers still
> feel that Ham radio is a natural progression of a DXer/SWLs career?
>
> I have been listening to everything from MW Dx to Ham radio and Utes
> for over 30 years and I have never had any desire to "get on the air"
> and talk to anyone.
>
> Truth be told, I will, at some point get an Amateur ticket
> if only to get more involved in my Provinces emergency program.
>
>
> --
> Colin Newell
>
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