No matter how you slice it or how you dice it, we Ham radio operators are all about communicating. We communicate using various modes such as SSB, CW, Digital or perhaps modes yet to be developed used to communicate with robots, even a chat now and then with extraterrestrial beings.  Mostly we communicate with others in this interesting avocation of ours, others like ourselves. We have an art called ‘conversation’ and lets face it, not everyone has the ability to sit behind a mic to spend hours conversing intelligently with perfect strangers.

Marcia and I were at Applebee’s in Baxter waiting to be seated for lunch along with several others when I noticed most of the people were holding smart phones as their thumbs moved over a virtual keyboard at warp speed. My very first reaction was ‘there’s a lot of carpel tunnel in the making’ but they were communicating with a device that was not eyeball to eyeball and the thought that they were losing some of the art of conversation occurred to me as the communications were all digital.

After being seated I once again looked around the restaurant to notice almost every table had at least one, sometimes more still moving their thumbs at warp speed over a virtual keyboard. Hardly anyone was in a conversation at the tables and including…the bar, that were in an eyeball to eyeball encounter. I quietly wondered how the texting by the folks at the bar would look like after a few drinks. Anyway, the point is that you and I use a medium called Ham radio which is far too cumbersome to sit on the table or even the bar so we do our ‘thing’ at home or on occasion we’ll take our stations afield to operate portable. Sadly the cycle 24 minimum has a strangle hold on our band conditions making most DX off limits so I find myself calling CQ fully expecting an interesting fulfilling QSO to answer my call on the other end.

That’s about it from my QTH in Huntersville for this month so let remind you to sit at your station, call CQ because someone somewhere is listening for your call. Don’t disappoint them. I hope to see you next month…

Best 73 es gud DX from my station to yours…Bob/WØZPE