![]() ![]() I have a different take on the FT8 “encroachment” on what has been CW space in contest competition. Is the band really dead, or is it that we are getting fat and happy using FT8?Īs Mike said, thanks for keeping the FT8 conversation going! 73, Bob AK3Y Nearly every morning (I’m an early riser) I get on 40 CW to find the band mostly dead, except for a giant blip on the FT8 frequency where my S-meter is registering 30 over 9. Unfortunately, like most ham radio allocations, you use it or lose it. I have heard the argument made that CW, for example, can operate anywhere in the band so what’s the problem? I’m not sure many SSB QSO’s would like to have a CW net or contest taking place on top of them. ![]() For example, one often finds FT8 pileups in the 7.050 to 7.060 MHz region where many of us SKCC folks gather. On more than a few occasions, I have found myself being clobbered by an “errant” FT8 pileup gob smack in the middle of what used to be allocated (albeit informally) to CW. Unfortunately, those times seem to be behind us as I am finding more and more DXpeditions (or just plain special events) using FT8 while operating in Fox/Hound mode on frequencies that were formerly rather sacrosanct for CW. You knew where to stay away from if you wanted to operate CW or another digital mode. Until fairly recently, FT8 was a mode that was something that one could indeed be indifferent to - it used a well-defined set of frequencies, and occupied very little bandwidth, essentially the equivalent of one SSB channel. Thanks for the article - it is something that needed to be said, even though it was probably in the thoughts of many hams whether they like FT8 or not. This article was originally posted on Radio Artisan. The mindless fashion in which it is in use I’m not so sure about. The FT8 mode itself is not bad technology, or detrimental to amateur radio. I have always been one to tell others to not be mode bigots, or put down other modes. I don’t hate FT8, but I get the discontent about it that is expressed in amateur radio circles. Personally, I’ve become indifferent to the whole FT8 debate, and frankly anything that involves DXing, DXCC, contesting, or collecting wallpaper. FT8 has become something akin to Bitcoin-mining, but it’s QSO-mining, and FT8 with automation which is undoubtedly happening has devolved pursuit of accomplishments into a virtual QSO Battlebots competition. We all know it, we just don’t know the extent of it. There are fully automated FT8 stations out there where the operator just clicks a button and the station makes contacts all day. How about a TCP/IP link to a BBS on the moon or an open global resilient messaging network that works on every band in the lowest of the low sunspot cycles? Instead, it was packaged as a low effort point-and-click QSO slot machine, unable to convey anything intelligent. We could do great things with low baud rate/low S/N modes. What is at issue is the way Joe Taylor packaged it. We all knew (well, those of us with engineering know-how) that a semi-synchronous extremely low baud rate, low signal-to-noise ratio mode would work and be quite robust. ![]() It was just bound to happen at some point given the progression of technology and the availability of materials and know-how to do it. The idea or theory is that the steam engine would have been invented at probably the same time in history by anyone or several people simultaneously in the world, even if many inventors were isolated and not in contact with each other. It’s like the concept of steam engine time. FT8 just automated the process and significantly reduced the time needed and totally removed any skill advantage.įT8 or another similar mode was going to happen sometime. Skill may lessen the amount of time it takes. ![]() I think FT8 just exposed an inconvenient truth that there really wasn’t a whole lot of skill involved in DXCC. FT8 has given a means to bypass a lot of that chair-sitting. I’ve often thought it’s a fait accompli achieving DXCC, one just needs to sit in a chair long enough. What’s worse in the minds of some, is that accomplishments like DXCC which used to take several to many years to reach is being significantly shortened with the use of FT8. This increase has come at the expense of other mode activity, especially CW. It’s a popular mode, so popular in fact that one report citing Club Log data recently showed that 80% of HF contacts in their tracking nowadays are FT8. You all have seen it in social media and on the air. ![]()
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |
Details
AuthorWrite something about yourself. No need to be fancy, just an overview. ArchivesCategories |