On 9/1/2024 5:51 PM, Wes Stewart via Topband wrote:
If you look at Clublog stats, you'll see fewer than half of the Qs are
on CW. Furthermore, 53% of the Qs are with EU, and 37% are with NA. I
did a rough count once and EU had only 60% of the ham population of the
US.
I suspect that's at least somewhat dependent on what modes produce the
greatest number of QSOs, which in turn is based on condition, AND signal
to noise on both ends of the QSO. Experienced DX ops have said that SSB
is the roughest mode on which to make rate, CW is much easier, and FT8
is much easier than CW. The difference is the signal to noise advantage
of the modes relative to each other and their relative occupied
bandwidth. It's much easier to pick out calls in a CW pileup than on
SSB, and the WSJT-X decoder is much better than most ears on CW. As to
signal to noise -- CW with great ops on both ends is roughly 10 dB
better than SSB, and FT8 is roughly 10 dB better than those great CW ops.
I'm guessing that the reason there are more FT8 QSOs is the efficiency
of their new transmission mode that allows them to respond to many
callers at full power, and neither op needs to use their brain to copy
the exchange. It is, indeed, all about RADIO, antennas, and noise.
I'm only trying to fill the DXCC slots I didn't already have. I just
worked them on 30 CW, first call. Worked FT8 on 60 and 17. I still need
160, 12, 10, and 6. I'm monitoring 160 and DXWatch.
73, Jim K9YC
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