[IRCA] UltraLight Yahoo Group or Similar

["John H. Bryant" <bjohnorcas@xxxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

Colin mentioned using his fine site for a UltraLight Forum or that he 
could assist with the formation of an UltraLight Yahoo e-group, if 
there is appropriate interest. I hate to see the UltraLighters 
abandon the IRCA list, because it has been great to talk 
enthusiastically about something and clearly get excited on line 
about  an aspect of DXing... UltraLight has been very good for 
IRCA.... I know a couple of very serious DXers who bailed outta the 
IRCA list because of all of the dead horse beating over IBOC and the 
general lack of DX content.... UltraLight has been good for this 
list...  IRCA has been good for UltraLight, too.... how could this 
fun phenomenon possibly have happened without the existence of an 
already established on-line community of MW DXers???  UltraLight has 
exploded and added to our hobby enjoyment immensely, thanks to the 
IRCA list.  Personally, I'd hate to see discussion of this topic move 
exclusively to some other venue.

HOWEVER, I find the mechanics and limitations of the IRCA list very 
frustrating for a highly specialized interest group. The IRCA list 
works well for a general DX channel, but it is hampering and 
frustrating mechanically for more specialized interests. For instance:

1. There may be a way to search an IRCA message archive to find 
message information that has already been posted (like the alignment 
procedures for the '59, for instance) but I don't know where the 
archive is (if it exists) or how to search it with key words or by 
string, etc.... VERY FRUSTRATING and probably my fault. The Yahoo 
group format is well known and footers help you get to things quite 
easily... I search archives there alla the time.

2. The lack of a group common file area is hugely frustrating on the 
IRCA group, though this is probably impractical for a large and very 
diverse group. Another Yahoo group that I manage has 100 MB of files 
area for the sharing of things like those alignment instructions, the 
schematic for the '59, etc. The file area is FREE and very easy to 
use and open to all.

3. The lack of the ability to attach files to the IRCA messages 
probably makes sense for a general interest group, where one would 
not be interested in 75% of the attachments, possibly. With a Yahoo 
group, you can run attachments normally.  The seriousness of this 
limitation was brought home to me yesterday when I couldn't remember 
who had physically modified a '59 to have a large circular dial wheel 
(using a jar lid !!!) and, of course, I couldn't search for it.I 
thought that Gary DeBock had done it and mentioned that on-line.  Gil 
Stacy was nice enough to contact me off the IRCA group and share 
several photographs with me.... Geez, you should see his 
fabulous  SRF-59 set-up, with a plastic turntable, an optional larger 
ferrite bar and everything but the kitchen sink AND a HUGE dial!  I'm 
mad as hell that I did not see that sooner..... it has really 
stimulated my thinking about '59s and other analog UltraLights.  Me 
not seeing those photos with the original post is directly 
attributable to the limitations of a general list.

4. I'm also very frustrated that we don't have a formal means to post 
EXCLUSIVE UltraLight loggings.... Personally, I'd like to see weekly 
loggings of only UltraLights, posted by individual DXer, not smushed 
together in a general "by frequency" list.  I was blown away by the 
possible Venezuelan catch yesterday... sorry, I forgot who posted 
that and I can't search for it.  I was also blown away by the fact 
that Dennis Vroom already has 50 stations in his UltraLight 
log.....  Routine posting of lengthy UltraLight logs is probably best 
done on a separate channel.

Yet, I don't think that it would be all that healthy for either IRCA 
or the UltraLight phenomenon to give up the discussion of UltraLights 
on the IRCA list. WHY NOT DO BOTH, at least for a while???? 
Establishing a Yahoo group, open to all interested parties, would 
give us a place to do alla the important cumbersome stuff that I 
mentioned above, but we could maintain general discussions on IRCA???

Well, I'll take my soap box and slink off into dawn's early light....


John B.
Stillwater, Oklahoma, USA
Rcvrs: WiNRADiO 313e, Eton e1, NRD-535(kiwa-mods)
Antennas: 700' NE/SW mini-Bev, Wellbrook Phased Array (pre-production version)


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