Re: [CQ-Contest] Contesting and the FT8 Revolution

[wa1fcn <wa1fcn@charter.net>]

    GE Kostas

        I just wanted you to know you are not the only one to feel bad 
about DXCC.
            In the past couple years a few people have E-Mailed me 
about their feelings
             in regards to DXCC.   The ARRL has destroyed the value of 
DXCC.  It has taken
            me a lifetime (over 50years) to achieve DXCC of 285 on 40 
meters low power.
            They should of separated FT8/FT4 from all other modes in 
Single band DXCC.
            DX with FT8 is fishing in a barrel. Can you imagine the 
DXCC totals on 12 and 10
            meters when the Sunspot cycle improves!  Where is the 
challenge now?!  There
            is none!  I can go on to other FT8 minuses like how it 
destroyed RTTY, how it has
            made some hams lazy and see no need to put any effort into 
becoming a more
            proficient operator in other modes.

                Ok Kostas I will stop now as I am sure I offended 
enough hams already.
                                73   BoB WA1FCN


On 6/19/2021 2:46 PM, Kostas SV1DPI wrote:
> Maybe you have right. But I don't feel the same.
>
> ** The small pistol station revolution
>
> Having 1 kw and a 2el quad @10m high, I don't feel a big gun. I had 
> the chance to be competitive in dxing because I devoted many hours 
> studying propagation and even more time on the radio. Now there is no 
> chance for me to make something that others do not. They let their 
> computer and play 24 hours per day with better antennas and more 
> power.... So yes small pistols have the chance to work something they 
> had not but not to be competitive...
> ** The station optimization revolution
>
> I have at least one friend who has a long wire and have worked 290 
> countries the last 3 years, of course in ft8, including pacific, etc. 
> So why to make his station better? I remember that I put my quad 
> higher when I lost a dxpedition, I bought an amplifier the next time, 
> etc... Now there is no chance to loose a dxpedition especially because 
> almost every dxpedition (let me know it - don't forget that the first 
> ft8 robot was Greek and I know some of the guys bought it) uses more 
> than one robots running ft8 all day. And they have not the courage to 
> say it...
> ** The now-casting propagation revolution
> In SZ1A we have a skimmer (maybe you know it even it is out of order 
> the last 3 weeks - we have ordered the damaged parts). We use the 
> results of the skimmer to make our plans in contests. The first time 
> we were keeping ft8 qsos as the CW qsos also. This had as a result to 
> drive us to mistakes in real contesting. While the band seemed to be 
> open the previous days during specific time, it wasn't finally during 
> the contest. So we stopped using the FT8 spots and now we keep only 
> the CW qsos to make our plans.
> ** The marginal bands revolution
>
> Yes, ft8 helps a weaker station to have a QSO (I don't think "to be 
> heard" is the right expression). I am not a 6m fun but I managed to 
> work 125 entities the last 15 years. Also optimization of antennas, 
> radios, amplifiers, etc, all these years. Someone using ft8, has 
> worked these entities the last 2 years in the lower point of solar 
> cycle using the half length of my boom. But what he will do the next 
> years... What he will work in high part of solar cycle? And why he 
> needs to wait for it? Probably he will play cards because I don't 
> think he will stay in ham radio... If you don't need to improve the 
> station, the antennas, to study and learn propagation, to learn more, 
> to increase your knowledge, etc... what will be the interesting part 
> to keep you in ham radio? I already know someone who stopped to play 
> radio, never installed his new hexbeam, because he worked WAS on 40m 
> in a week with a long wire (WAS is far more difficult from DXCC from 
> Greece), letting his computer to play ever night. Plus another one who 
> had dxcc with all entities in ft8 but he didn't know the QSO procedure!
>
> In conclusion, I don't care what the others do. I mentioned about 
> others just to show the results. I have not fun with ft8 and this is 
> why I don't use it. If you are pleasant with it, do it. I don't care. 
> I lost my interest for DXing.
> I can not understand how someone has fun with ft8 in contesting. 
> Because the rhythm? Because the nice sound? Because of the pileup? Or 
> because he has the time to go to the toilet while his computer makes 
> some QSOs...
> By the way I am a digital guy! I gave many new ones to west coast guys 
> on RTTY from Iran (EP6T) and I have 329 entities on RTTY. I have tried 
> ft8 and I didn't like it. I abandoned dxcc program while I was HR1, HR 
> on SSB and CW and had over 2850 entities in challenge because of Ft8 
> acceptance by ARRL. I am crying over the money I gave to ARRL. After 
> 25 years in ham radio I continue to play chasing fun in CW/SSB/RTTY 
> contesting (mainly casual but more serious also sometimes) and I don't 
> think ft8 could be part of my contesting habits.
> 73 Kostas SV1DPI
>
>
> Στις 19/6/2021 18:24, ο/η José Nunes CT1BOH έγραψε:
> > There is a revolution going on – The FT8 revolution! Like other
> > revolutions, it is a breakthrough and there is no coming back. But 
> > unlike
> > what many think, FT8 mode is fantastic for amateur radio and of 
> > course for
> > contesting.
> >
> >
> > There are several things I can particularly note:
> >
> >
> > ** The spotting revolution
> >
> >   Because of the default reporting option of FT8 applications, every 
> > station
> > that uses JTDX/WSJT applications is constantly spotting all the stations
> > that the decoders hear. Every station becomes a spotting machine of the
> > bands (just like a skimmer) while they are on. The result?! 20.8 billion
> > FT8 spots in 4 years.
> >
> >
> > ** The small pistol station revolution
> >
> > Considering a 2500 Hz bandwidth and weak-signal/Noise Ratio, SSB can 
> > go as
> > low as +10 dB, CW -15 db and FT8 -21dB. To put it in another way, since
> > doubling power results in 3 dB increase in SNR, a 31db difference 
> > means 1W
> > in FT8 versus 1024 watts in SSB.
> >
> > A modest station, suddenly, feels like a new world of propagation has
> > opened to him and this in return brings more and more people to the 
> > bands
> > because of the fun of working stations and paths not before available.
> > There is a virtuous cycle – more spots, more people, more activity, more
> > spots, more people, more activity, …
> >
> >
> > ** The now-casting propagation revolution
> >
> > With such a huge volume of spots, 20.8 billion in 4 years and around 22
> > million spots per day [just for your reference last CQWW CW generated 
> > 6.5M
> > spots], propagation prediction is turning into now-casting propagation.
> > There is no need for propagation prediction anymore because, knowing the
> > propagation pattern from 20 billion spots and getting real 
> > propagation from
> > the 22 million spots per day, real time conditions come from now-casting
> > propagation - any circuit can be determined to be open or close.
> >
> > You can watch my 2021 Contest University presentation about this subject
> > here https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=q-esob7BPtc&t=20340s and/or get the
> > slides of the presentation slides here
> > https://www.contestuniversity.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/05/There-is-Nothing-Magic-About-Propagation-CTU-2021-CT1BOH.pdf 
> >
> >
> >
> > ** The station optimization revolution
> >
> > This is perhaps one of the most overlooked aspects of FT8 and of great
> > interest to contest stations. Because of the spotting revolution and
> > because every FT8 station uses exact grid locator, the exact path of the
> > circuits can be drawn. A contest station that uses a simple FT8 
> > skimmer can
> > monitor, 24x7, the potential of any antenna set-up, compare different
> > antennas configuration (A/B testing using different calls), test antenna
> > take-off angles, and adjust this information to available propagation at
> > any time, before or during a contest. “22 million spots per day” are 
> > there
> > available to test your station. I believe every station, DX or 
> > Contest,  should
> > use a FT8 Skimmer, like the stand alone Red Pitaya
> > https://www.redpitaya.com/ to skim several bands at the same time at 
> > a very
> > low cost, provide now-casting information, check antenna and location
> > potential and use that for station optimization. This link takes you 
> > to a
> > visualization of my modest small pistol station (just a simple long 
> > wire)
> > potential on all the bands  https://tinyurl.com/e6767we8 in the last 24
> > hours.
> >
> >
> > ** The marginal bands revolution
> >
> > With FT8, marginal bands like 160, 10 and 6 meters become alive like no
> > other. Going deeper into the SNR, “opens” new circuits, brings more
> > activity, confirms these circuits were always there. We are working 
> > Japan
> > on 6 meters on a daily basis... Also, there is a move from CW into 
> > FT8 on
> > these band. This is a side effect, but it is what it is. If people 
> > suddenly
> > find a band open at -21dB that before was close at -15dB, of course they
> > will use the mode that enables those QSOs and will not use the other 
> > mode
> > anymore.
> >
> > In any case competitive contesting (SSB and CW) has a lot to gain 
> > form this
> > revolution. Exciting times indeed
> >
> > 73 José Nunes
> > CONTEST CT1BOH - http://www.qsl.net/ct1boh
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