If you are decoding by human ears and brain power...
...then you are a True Blue DXer!
LET US TELL YOU RIGHT AWAY: WE ARE NOT AGAINST ANYTHING, OR ANYBODY
Digital modes, particularly FT8, have literally taken Ham Radio by storm. We at True Blue DXers Club (TBDXC) applaud technical innovation, and we are glad that so many people have found a new avenue for their amateur radio passion. We wish digital operators every success and lots of enjoyment.
We are somehow saddened that such explosion of activity has come to the detriment of traditional, person-to-person modes of communication. Experience tells us that, even with poor propagation and rising noise, both high-level, competitive DX activity and leisurely rag-chewing on CW and SSB are possible and highly enjoyable, even for stations with modest means. Yet, the CW and SSB sub-bands are often nearly deserted, whilst the FT8 "watering holes" literally explode with signals which would be perfectly copyable by ear.
WE RECLAIM THE PRIDE AND JOY OF DXing AS A DIFFICULT, CHALLENGING PURSUIT
DXing means pushing the limits - one's own and the station's. DXing requires skills, knowledge, determination, patience, endurance, investment - it's a constant pursuit of excellence, one that, for some, has lasted a lifetime. It is that spirit that makes a DXer, and not the results he or she has achieved. The Old Timer waiting for the last DXCC country to complete the #1 Honor Roll and the newcomer struggling to push beyond 100 from a noisy city lot belong together - they are True Blue DXers.
WE LOVE THE PLEASURE AND WARMTH OF PERSON-TO-PERSON COMMUNICATION
There is more to DXing that competing in furious pileups, waiting for that elusive 6m opening or spending sleepless nights trying to dig a signal out of the noise on Top Band. Simply communicating with a fellow ham thousands of miles away remains, for most of us, an exquisite pleasure. True Blue DXers love the sound of DX - the auroral flutter on Polar paths, the slow fading over the oceans, the slap-back delay on multi-paths. They like to hear that there is a fellow ham behind the key or the microphone, in a faraway place.
IF THESE SIMPLE IDEAS SPEAK TO YOU, YOU ARE A TRUE BLUE DXer
Then, why not joining the Club? Apart from your personal commitment to pursuing and promoting more traditional forms of DX activity, there are no requirements. And, there are no membership fees. Belonging to the True Blue DXers Club is essentially a proud statement: this is what we do, this is what we are.
TBDXC link: http://www.tbdxc.net
73 - Petr, OK1RP
TBDXC #12
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