No FT8 for me in topband or 6m, in fact in all bands, Hi!
Exception made for the 60m band (5 MHz), but if the station shows up in CW I
would rather work it CW than in FT8.
I'm an IT guy, but this is a hobby and I want radio no computer's when
working DX.
I do work RTTY and PSK, there's still some human intervention and the
computer doesn't makes all the QSO for you.
73 Jose CT1EEB
----- Original Message -----
From: "Hans Hjelmström" <sm6cvx@hjelmstrom.se>
To: "Steve Ireland" <vk6vz@arach.net.au>; <sm5djz@ssa.se>; "sm6cmU"
<sm6cmu@inolit.se>; <topband@contesting.com>
Cc: "Peter Andersson" <sm6mcw@skara.net>; <sm6ctq@ssa.se>; "Kjell Nerlich"
<sm6ctq@gmail.com>
Sent: Wednesday, October 25, 2017 10:23 AM
Subject: Re: Topband: FT8 - the end of 160m old school DXing? (long)
Hi Steve
I FULLY agree on all you write. Unfortunately I also feel that Ham radio
is more or less lost.
According to me,,,this is NOT Ham radio,, it is digi to digi without any
personal feeling.
And even more ,it destroy completely the challenge of Ham radio…..
Next is to let your computer make these so called QSO:s during the day
when you work,
and during night ,when you are at sleep.You only check once per day,,what
contacts he
made, and the computer log for you.And send info to LOTW.Not any cards to
look at
any more. Just check your standings once per month at computer.
At this point all social-connection is gone ,and you can just sit back and
rest,,,,,,,
It was the same this season on 50 mc. After 5th of July ,there was almost
NO
stations on either CW or SSB. People that I know of, having no interest in
the challenge of magic band, worked ??? countries that they never could
dream of before.
I feel that ARRL should make a new dxcc for only Digi-modes that gives
report less as - 1 db. Like in past ,when they used to need a report
of
minimum 33 or 339. As computer make the ,,,so called qso, and also write
the report ,that should be easy to do.And this modes should NOT be
counted for the other dxcc-awards. Doing this ,a lot of people ,can work a
new dxcc ,if they like ,on these digi modes, and not destroy the old
awards.
I sent an e-mail concerning this to ARRL about one month ago, to one of
the top-guys at
dxcc-award. His lazy answer was more or less::: Use ,take it or leave it.
Its new times.
He / they were NOT interested to think it over, not even do they care.
His answer was really not for a hobby. It was just too much for him to
think of.
WORSE of all is : that it takes away challenge to increase
antennas,station and
your operating skills. In all other hobbies,,, this is most important, to
give some
advantage to these that do something extra,,,,,,,,
VERY SORRY, BUT if 50 mc and also 1.8 mc is going to be the same this and
coming 2018 season, I stop my ham-radio and will do something else.
I give it to end of 2018 ,to see if any changements will come.
I think the best to solve this ,,,,shit,,, is to make a separate dxcc
award for it,
and not mix with the others.
Sorry for long e-mail, BUT I can tell you, for sure,,,many many Hams
around our globe,feels similar as you and me.
Kind regards
Hans SM6CVX
25 okt 2017 kl. 10:25 skrev Steve Ireland <vk6vz@arach.net.au>:
G’day
As a committed (yeah, that’s probably the right word - complete with
white jacket that laces up at the back) topbander since 1970, I’ve never
been so intrigued and disturbed by anything on the band as the emergence
of the Franke-Taylor FT-8 digital mode.
For me, radio has always been all about what I audibly hear. I love all
the sounds that radio signals make - and even miss the comforting sound
of Loran that I grew up with around 1930kHz as a teenager in south-east
England. Yeah, I am one sick puppy.
With the emergence of high resolution bandscopes through SDR technology
over the last decade, I embraced that as it meant that I could find what
DX stations I wanted to hear and contact quicker and more easily (and, in
particular, before those stations who didn’t have the same technology).
It was really exciting and enhanced the sensual experience of radio by
being able to see what I could hear (and no dinosaur me, I was an SDR fan
boy!).
During this period, there has also been an extraordinary development in
digital radio modes, in particular by Joe Taylor K1JT.
As a topbander I could see that these modes in which you ‘saw’ signals
through the medium of computer screen or window as being a remarkable
technical achievement, but had relatively little to do what I and the
vast majority of active radio amateurs practiced as radio on 160m, as it
had nothing to do with the audible.
The good thing was that I could see that good old CW and Silly Slop
Bucket (you can see where my prejudices lie) that I like to use were
still the modes of choice for weak signal DX topband radio contact as
these fancy digital modes were either very slow or, if they weren’t, were
not good at dealing with signals that faded up and down or were covered
in varying amounts of noise.
While some amateurs seemed to have lost the pleasure of actually hearing
signals in favour of viewing them on their computer screens, I felt
secure that these digital modes were just a minor annoyance and any
serious DXer or DXpedition was never going to seriously going to use
them, particularly on my first and all-time love topband, for other than
experimentation.
Then, out of the blue, along comes FT-8. Joe and Steve Franke K9AN have
quietly created the holy grail of digital operation with a mode that can
have QSOs almost as fast as CW and SSB and over the last eight weeks 160m
DXing has changed, perhaps for ever.
Where once there were a few weak CW and SSB signals (I am in VK6, which
is a looong way from anywhere with a population so we only ever hear a
few), I can see that the busiest part of the band is 1840 kHz – FT-8
central. On some nights I can see FT-8 signals on the band but no CW or
SSB.
There are countries I’ve dreamed for 20 years of hearing on 160m SSB/CW
(for example, KG4) regularly appearing on DX clusters and I can see the
heap of FT-8 activity on my band scope.
Frustration sets in and I even downloaded the FT-8 software but, when it
comes down to it, I just can’t use it. My heart isn’t in it.
My computer will be talking to someone else’s computer and there will be
no sense of either a particular person’s way of sending CW or the tone of
their voice (even the way some my SSB mates overdrive their transceivers
is actually creating nostalgia in me). The human in radio has somehow
been lost.
I think back to my best-ever 160m SSB contact with Pedro NP4A and I can
still hear the sound of his voice, his accent, when he came up out of the
noise and to my amazement answered me on my second call, with real
excitement in his voice. Pure radio magic!
So I am sitting here, feeling depressed and wondering if overnight I have
become a dinosaur and this is the beginning of the end of topband radio
as I’ve always enjoyed it.
Now, over to you other topbanders, especially those who have dabbled with
FT-8 and live in more populous areas. Has the world really turned upside
down and what do you think the future holds?
Vy 73
Steve, VK6VZ/G3ZZD
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