This has been making the rounds lately. It comes from the October 1920 QST. It really is true. There is nothing new under the sun…
This has been making the rounds lately. It comes from the October 1920 QST. It really is true. There is nothing new under the sun…
Oh that’s a good one, Dan! Human nature never changes. I’m sure the signal flag guys were bent out of shape when spark-gap transmitters were introduced.
Perhaps this explains the Scots’ fondness and attachment to the bagpipes.
Being as my father’s mother was a Scotswoman, and all her family as well, I am not offended by the sound as many are. I suppose there is a certain amount of romance and attraction to the past no matter what the subject is. To some, it is aggravating noise, yet to others sweet music.
When I used to SWL, coming across CW and RTTY signals I was, sometimes not so gently reminded to use my headphones by the family if I lingered more than a few seconds. I always liked the sound of those signals, because that meant someone out there was taking the time and effort to relate to someone else, whether it was personal communication or government/business, I found those signals a sign of life beyond my perception of the world. Takes all kinds I guess, but for me as long as someone is making the effort to create a signal and broadcast it, we are still demonstrating the human need for contact. Whether the message is a warning, a cry for help, or a personal conversation, or simply and exchange of station identification, as long as it is one person to another, we are using technology, and not becoming subject to it.
I think radio lends itself to this kind of romance, more so than many other forms of communication. Besides, isn’t everything a retrospective with exception of the present?
73!
Discworld, apparently, never discovered radio, since they used signal towers for fast, long-distance communication throughout the entire series of books. along with a postal system still using the Discworld equivalent of the pony express.
This, in spite of the fact that magic worked there, and there was even a color associated with magic that some could even see — Octarine, I think.
Sadly, the author passed away a few years ago, a victim of Alzheimer’s, so there will be no more Discworld novels, but I greatly enjoyed the entire series. Top-notch writing, that.