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- Subject: Pat / Facebook
- From: Mark Connelly <markwa1ion@xxxxxxx>
- Date: Fri, 18 Jul 2014 21:29:45 -0400 (EDT)
- Delivered-to: irca@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
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First of all I'm glad to see that things are going well with Pat Martin.
Many DXers tend to "go dormant" this time of the year. Certainly here
in the northeast US, lightning has a lot to do with it. Some just shut
down their activities even though some good DX can still be enjoyed
during dry high-pressure weather when static-causing storms are pushed
at least 500 miles out of the way on bearings of DX interest.
Some of us take advantage of this time of year in terms of the sunset /
sunrise terminator tending to put DX from below the equator more in the
forefront. Here in the east we're talking Brazil and maybe even
Argentina, at least for those close enough to the seashore. I've
reported some of these from here on Cape Cod. Brett Saylor's recent
trip to Cape Hatteras, NC produced decent Brazilian activity as well.
Deep Africans should also be part of the plan but, other than VOA Sao
Tome (1530), there aren't that many decent-power stations from
sub-equatorial Africa anymore now that everyone's going to FM,
satellite, and webcasting.
Up in Newfoundland, Allen Willie is continuing to knock 'em dead just
as Gary and Chuck are doing out in Oregon. Short story: There is no
substitute for being right on the ocean ... especially at this time of
year. In autumn / winter, big Europeans can get several hundred miles
inland at least to the Great Lakes area and the major Japanese make it
as far east as Oklahoma pretty often. But in late spring / summer,
when we're concentrating on trans-equatorial long-hauls (5000+ miles),
you really have to be at a site where you smell salt spray and hear
seagulls.
As far as Facebook goes, I am aware of some of the privacy concerns.
You have to be careful of security settings, whom you choose as
"friends", and what you post. Consider that, one way or another,
anything posted can become public even if you thought otherwise. If
you've just downed a six-pack, not only should you not be driving but
you shouldn't be posting on social media either.
I do use Facebook (at times) since it brings the ability to communicate
many interests to many people. You can also communicate with companies
you patronize as well as with its other customers. Of course DX, the
broadcasting business, ham radio, and electronics design are high on my
interest list. This IRCA reflector and a few other e-mail lists and
Yahoogroups do a fair to good job covering those. But I also enjoy
talking about music, travel, photography, language / dialect study,
architecture, cars, trains, TV, '50s/'60s nostalgia (diners, drive-ins,
jukeboxes, and so on), gardening / botany, weather, sports, tools /
d-i-y, and history (local, WW2, etc.) - among other things.
Understandably a list such as IRCA or NRC is not going to accommodate
lengthy "off topic" discussions about coffee or public transit or spy
novels. DXpedition reports (Newfie, PEI, Grayland, Haida Gwaii,
Rockworks, etc.) have always had a bits of "human interest" narrative
beyond the raw loggings and technical details. But those have always
been just a little spice to make the report a bit more readable rather
than just having the dry details. You couldn't, on the other hand, go
into great detail about salmon dinners and white wine you enjoyed and
then a quick blurb "Oh yeah, we heard some DX too."
Facebook, on the other hand, often provides varied insights into people
you know from hobbies, work, school, family, etc. Sometimes Facebook
"friends" from different spheres of one's life read about a
formerly-unknown common interest and wind up gaining useful new
connections possibly even leading to professional advancement.
Sometimes a person I know quite well for one particular interest turns
out to have other interests that are equally (or more) valuable to my
exploration of knowledge. Some examples include: Local DXer Bruce
Conti also happens to be a serious bird photographer. Boston Radio
Interest Group member Kevin Vahey is also (perhaps) the biggest Red Sox
fan and basically a sports encyclopedia. Shortwave / ham guru Skip
Arey is also a huge fan of Celtic music. He and I have had several
Facebook chats about the merits of singers such as Maddy Prior and
Sandy Denny. There are numerous special-interest groups on there
including, of course, the NRC, IRCA, and Medium Wave Circle ones. Paul
Walker's transmitter sites group is worth mentioning. Some of these
groups have greater participation and enthusiasm levels than some of
the older-school radio-related e-mail reflectors / Yahoogroups. The
ability to include photographs is a big selling point. Of course I'm
on those DX groups but, among other things, I'm also on several for
plant identification, a couple for my favorite singer (Helen Shapiro),
one about the '64/'65 NY World's Fair, a WJIB/WJTO fan page (where
users often post oldies music selections from YouTube), and several
about my old hometown of Arlington, MA. These are just some. There are
often links to full-length books and archived magazines (on many
topics) in PDF files you can save to your local drive. I don't know
where else on the internet I could have this sort of "one stop
shopping" at low / no cost for a wide variety of interests and how I
could otherwise connect with as many resources of information as well
as enabling others from different spheres of my life to make similar
connections, often to those of whom they had no previous knowledge (at
least within a particular interest domain).
A downside, beside privacy concerns, is simply "too much information" -
once you get above 100-or-so "friends", even a few hours of aggregate
newfeed activity can take a substantial amount of time to read and
process. You are mining for about 5 to 10 percent "gold nuggets" out
of the remaining slurry of irrelevant "here's a crummy out-of-focus
picture of my cute kitty" and the inevitable political / religious
axe-grinding. If you're off Facebook for a few days, many potentially
useful newsfeed items have been shoved so far down the line at that
point that you are likely never to see them unless you look at specific
"friends" known to post quality items. This is definitely a case of
exercising moderation. If you're blowing away several hours daily in
front of your computer, you could be ignoring necessary / desirable
in-person interactions, errands, exercise, work, prayer, proper diet,
sleep, and - yes - actual DXing. I have at times deactivated my
account. Sometimes, despite the attraction of such an "information
shopping mall", you just have to give it a rest.
Off soapbox.
Mark Connelly, WA1ION
South Yarmouth, MA
<<
I am not on Facebook all that much. I added some comments the other
day, but I
still check it from time to time. But I am very much alive and well
and plan to
be in Billings in Sept with Dave Williams.
73,
Patrick
Patrick Martin
Seaside OR
KGED QSL Manager
Date: Thu, 17 Jul 2014 11:50:02 -0700
From: michael.d.hawkins@xxxxxxxxx
To: irca@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
Subject: Re: [IRCA] Pat Martin
I am not on Facebook, and am free of the everchanging privacy issues
that
it presents. Nor do I feel like I am missing a thing by not being
there.
Mike
old, cynical and malware-free
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