Philosophy of Radio

Oh dear!  It's serious when it comes to philosophical matters!

The prompt for this post is the discovery that my FT-450, a lovely acquisition from a famous internet auction site, allows the recording of 10-second messages - typically 'CQ' calls - for later playback.

Now, I've often developed sore throats from calling 'CQ', so this facility is really useful.  But, it does beg the question: if we can automate 'CQ' calls, and automate most of a QSO via the various digital modes, are we as operators simply reduced to button-pressers at the appropriate moments?

The point being that, whilst most modes need us to click a mouse or press a button, that's only from kindness of a sort; it's pretty obvious from modes like WSPR that the whole experience of radio can be fully automated, with no need for an operator, other than being the licence holder for the transmitter, at all.

Now, I love WSPR.  It's a phenomenally useful mode.  It's also fully automated.  You can even exchange valid QSLs based upon it.  So, is full automation a future for radio?  Yes.  But not the full future.  Automation where it's appropriate and useful.

Otherwise, it's clear that real humans love real involvement in the sending and receiving of transmissions, and I see little evidence that what we have today is going to be much different from what we will have tomorrow.  You only need to spend a couple of days on faceless digital modes to realise the truth of this!