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Thursday, August 01, 2024

Are we communicating anymore?

Something that John K3WWP has been touching on in his diary entries lately and it got me thinking as well. Bob W3BBO and I also touch on this during our weekly BS sessions.

Whither the rag chew?

If my memory is accurate, back in 1979, when I was a Novice, just about all my QSOs were rag chews, band conditions permitting. You'd meet someone new, or a friend, on the air and there were certain things you relayed. You always gave a brief description of your equipment and antenna, of course. From there you might get into a discussion about the weather or whatever. But they were conversations! And especially with DX contacts you might get a photo of something or other along with your QSL card to see how the fellow at the other end of the QSO lived.

My first award/certificate was for being a certified member of the RCC or Rag Chewer's Club. It was available through the ARRL and again, if I remember correctly, you earned it by submitting a QSL from a QSO that lasted 1/2 hour or longer. There were plenty of those, they were a dime a dozen.

I look at my log book these days, and I have plenty of Sprint QSOs, POTA QSOs, and a smattering of other contest QSOs like CQ WW DX  and ARRL DX - but not many rag chews.

Why is that? It's a paradox. We're communicating more, but at the same time we're communicating less. I listen to the POTA guys who check into Marv K2VHW's "Middlesex County Chat Group Net" every night and they'll tell the tale how they made XXX number of QSOs that day. A nice achievement to be sure, but are they (myself included) communicating anything? Usually it's something like "W2LJ TU UR 559 BK", and of course, my reply is not much more - so let's move on to the next contact, please.

In the days of Facebook, Instagram, TikTok and other social media, we Hams pride ourselves as having been "the first social media", but it seems we aren't so social, anymore. Now granted, since I hardly ever pick up a microphone, it's probably a very different story on the phone side of things, but on the CW side, rag chews seem to be going the way of the Dodo.

So I am going to make a pledge. In my meager on-the-air time, I am going to try and have at least one or two rag chews per week. I doubt that will change anything, but as Confucius once said, "Every journey of a thousand miles begins with one step".

See you on the air!

72 de Larry W2LJ

QRP - When you care to send the very least!

5 comments:

  1. Anonymous9:08 AM

    This has vexed me the last few years. I’ve always been a CW enthusiast, yet it has been in steep decline in exactly the way you say. As a blogger, I’ve written thousands of words about it only to get feedback that the bands are “alive and filled with more Morse than ever before”. But as you report, it’s nothing but POTA, sprints and contests. Oh, and a growing number of “practice” sprints at every conceivable speed level. If the result of all this practice was more conversational CW that would be great. But these “practice” sessions are little more than mini-contests with scorekeeping, leaderboards, and 3830 listings.

    And yes, I have participated in all that noise because as John notes, it’s the only kind of CW traffic to be found on the bands these days so I decided to simply move on. Maybe everyone else came to that same conclusion too and that’s exacerbating the situation?

    I’m certain the Internet hasn’t helped since everyone has a QRZ page or Web site brimming with more info and photos of ourselves and our stations — what need do we have to talk about those things on the air anymore? Same goes for the perpetual conversation starter, the weather. I can look up the weather for your city in the time it takes you to send “WX HR IS…” Do we really have anything left to talk about?

    Perhaps the FTx modes have become so popular because they avoid all this and cut straight to the “UR 599” without any pretense that rag chewing is a real thing?

    73 de Jeff KE9V

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  2. I've been talking about this for years, but it's beyond hope. Instead of video games, it's radio games. No one knows how to talk to each other anymore. Try it! Try to talk to someone, especially a strnger, when the chance comes up. They get all uncomforatable and break away as soon as they can.
    It's not radio these days. It's a computer with a wireless connection. Contacts are pre-arranged thru spotting. The spot automatically tunes the radio to the frequency. All you do is type the call in and hit the keyer button. Then it's logged for you while you look at the spot page for the next one.
    I refuse to play, so I don't get many contacts. I'm just calling CQ and checking how far I made it on the RBN when I get back home. I'm still out there most every day.

    Rick N8TGQ

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  3. Anonymous7:02 PM

    I totally agree. The closest thing is the SKCC group. I’ve been looking for some QSOs (not contacts - to me there’s a difference) around 7050 where they hang out. And yes, much of the topics are what you point out (wx, rig, antennas, age, some health) but I try to ask at least one question (eg, what year were you first licensed?). In fact I think SKCC has an award for QSOs over an hour. One of the first things that got my interest in ham radio were some local guys that frequented 10 meters AM ! Yes that was long ago. Ham radio has so many facets, and I still enjoy contests (the Skeeter Hunt is a favorite!), especially QRP, and POTA. But I do miss the olden days too.

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    Replies
    1. Anonymous7:03 PM

      Sorry, I’m Frank K2SQS

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  4. How bout trying FT8 for rag chews? :) If I could post an image here, it would be the photo of 2 YLs enjoying some beer, and laughing heartily about a HAM that one of them met. She's telling the other "He showed me his log and it's all FT8."

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