Lament Of A Ragchewer

     My, my!  How things have changed in the digital world of Ham Radio.  It used to be that the 14.070 frequency was crowded with hams having  meaningful conversations with other hams around the world.  Now, you are lucky to see 2 or 3 traces.

     Everybody has left town and gone to the gold fields of FT-8 and JS8Call where they just exchange callsigns and 599s then move on to the next contact.  That saddens me because they are missing out on the real meaning of communication.  What is communication?  It is the exchange of thoughts and ideas between humans.  In having an exchange of thoughts and ideas, we usually tend to learn something from it.  I don't see that happening with FT-8 or JS8Call.  I have done both and neither one appeals to me at all.  JS8Call sends out 13 words at a time and takes 15 seconds to send a string.  You can take a power nap in that time.  It is my hope that  perhaps FT8 and JS8Call will eventually die out and more hams will come to realize what they have been missing.

     We are supposed to be trained communicators according to Part 97 of the rules.  Are we doing that?  My answer, for the most part, is "no"...at least not in the digital world from my experience.

      Whenever someone tries to get by with a "hit and run" contact with me, I do my best to not let them get away with it.  I ask them why they want to quit so soon.  If they tell me that their English is not so good, I tell them that they won't get better at it if they don't practice using it.  Usually, they do engage in conversation and in by the time we are done, they tell me how much they enjoyed it. Then I say to myself , "Well another one bites the dust."

     Pretty soon, we are going to forget how to communicate effectively.  Just take a look at some of the phone texting that goes on.  It is replete with poor spelling and grammar.  Almost nothing is spelled out.  It is all abbreviated or somehow butchered in one way or another.

     Try listening to a TV news program.  My wife cringes every time she hears the local TV news....poor grammar everywhere!  Don't they have anyone who proof reads the script?  My wife taught 6th grade for 35 years, so she knows her stuff about spelling and grammar.