NOTOM 010 Clusteropathy
Cluster: Nirvana and Golgotha
Technology, when used properly, is something truly wonderful. Our passion for radio is a perfect example of this. Tremendous strides have been made in the world of communications. Think of our radios, SDR technology, digital communications, and optimized antennas. Among the many technological innovations, we also have Mr. Cluster.
This tool was created to "publicize" stations on air and allows us to find a station we want to connect with. There’s no doubt that the cluster is a highly useful tool. I can filter results to see just one station or all the stations on a band, view the history of spots for a specific station, and much more.
In short, we can say that the cluster greatly simplifies our lives when it comes to contacting an operator or a specific area. Then there’s the added benefit of pairing it with the radio’s CAT system. With this integration, simply clicking on a station tunes the radio to the correct frequency and emission mode.
When a Killer Tool Goes to Waste.
Like everything else, the cluster is an excellent tool when used with sound judgment. Unfortunately, it has been observed that more and more stations are relying entirely on the cluster, as if the results provided by the network were absolute truth.
A very illustrative example happened a few nights ago. One station spotted another station incorrectly, posting the wrong callsign. Within seconds of the spot being published, a wave of operators began calling the poor operator using the wrong callsign!
Here’s the context: the dx operator was clearly giving out his correct callsign after each contact. So why did dozens of stations get the callsign wrong? Because they trusted the cluster rather than listening to the station itself.
The Prank of the Rebel Joker
This happened a few years ago at the radio club I was part of. A colleague claimed that the cluster was ruining the spirit of radio. Without gaining the group’s consensus, he decided to conduct an experiment. He tuned the club’s radio to 80 meters and then posted a spot for an exotic station on the cluster.
Within seconds, the frequency was buzzing with operators shouting their callsigns. The more they shouted, the more my colleague laughed, amused by his prank! The climax came when one operator eventually exchanged a 59 report with a ghost station!
Why did this happen? Simply because the cluster indicated that a station was on that frequency, so people believed the station had to exist. It didn’t matter that there was no station to be heard—it was enough for the cluster to say it was there.
Some even sent eQSLs, regardless of whether the contact had actually taken place or not. This is the dark side of the cluster when it’s used improperly.
The Victory of Ego
Another inappropriate use of the cluster is to thank for a QSO or to give suggestions to the DX operator. Here are some examples:
DX de DX Comments
Do these messages have any reason to be online on the cluster? NO. Nobody is interested if an operator uses the cluster—designed to highlight rare stations—to send greetings! It is simply nosense. Rare stations will almost never see these messages. They serve no purpose and are entirely useless except for feeding the sender’s ego by appearing in front of others.
The same applies to "suggestions" for the rare station, which very likely doesn’t even have internet access to read the cluster.
Some operators go to great lengths just to appear as spotters. For instance, an Italian station spotting another Italian station and commenting "CQ." Who cares if an Italian station is calling CQ? Nothing against the Italian stations, as I live in Italy too. the question is..Is the prefix "I" considered rare? Absolutely not. Spotting something like "P5" calling would make sense, but not a station from the same country.
Currently, with the WWA award in progress, the cluster is flooded with messages that have little to do with rare stations. This overload diminishes the true purpose of the cluster, reducing it to a channel for unnecessary and superficial messages.
Jeremiah 5:21: "They have ears but cannot hear"
Another issue linked to the misuse of the cluster is the death of radio listening. In the past, you would turn on the radio and carefully listen, even to the faintest signals. Most of the time was dedicated to listening. Then, if something interesting came up, you would transmit.
Nowadays, everything needs to be optimized, including time. Why bother with radio listening when you can just check the cluster to find a contact? With this approach, you only turn on the radio if the cluster indicates an interesting station. If nothing intriguing shows up on the cluster, the typical phrase of the "Clusteropathic" is: "There's no propagation! Better turn on the TV."
For some operators—though thankfully not all—radio activity is entirely dependent on what the cluster shows. It makes me wonder why they insist on spending so much money on radios, amplifiers, rotors, towers, antennas, and so on when they could just spend $200 to buy a smartphone and install Telegram! It’s faster, and you even get videos!
Radio is something entirely different. Radio is about listening—maybe with headphones—taking the time to turn the VFO, hear all the noises and transmissions, and use filters to distinguish a weak signal.
Am I against the cluster? Absolutely not. I use it regularly myself. But the cluster should be used wisely and must not replace listening or the joy of operating a radio.
What do you think? Share your thoughts in the comments below!
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