All:
As John/KK9A has pointed out, I was originally responding to the shutdown
of MFJ because the supposed demise of ham radio is something I've been
thinking about for a while - ever since a manufacturer recently said to me
that he thought ham radio was dying. I disagree. Ham radio is not dying.
But activity is definitely moving to a different frequency so to speak. It
seems to me that MFJ and perhaps Array Solutions were evidence of that
shift. The typical FT8 station consists of an IC 7300 and a multiband
vertical. As such, I'm probably not much of an Array Solutions customer or
an MFJ customer for that matter. I'd just want to get on the air and work
the world. For sure, there's stuff I could have bought from these two
vendors, but not a lot. That was the point. My intent was never to ignite a
spirited discussion on the upsides and downsides FT4/FT8.
But since some of you have quoted my original post, I want to respond to
some of your comments.
1. I'm a retired industry analyst (computer industry). In that line of
work, statistics are more powerful than subjective assessments. The RBN
numbers were concise and to the point. But I could have simply turned the
radio on, selected 20m, and pointed the antenna to EU as I'm doing as I
write this. I hear 15 CW stations and 14 SSB stations for a total of 29
between the two modes. If I double that, assuming that there are two
stations each in QSO, I have 48. Going to FT8 using WSJT-X's Active Station
counter, I see the maximum this window is able to report of 50 and I
suspect there are more. Moving to FT4, I see another 23 active stations.
WSJT-X sees more active stations than I can on the other two modes
combined. Of course you can argue against the simplicity of this
assessment, but I think we all know that much of the activity us OTs used
to see on the bands has gone to the digital modes. That's not a bad thing
to me. It's just different. Manufacturers and sellers of ham gear will have
to adjust. Martin Jue at MFJ chose to spend more time with his family
during the time he has left. I thank him for his contribution. But as I
stated in my original post, I see ham radio transitioning to a simpler,
smaller and more software-driven world. SDR was just the start. WSJT is
another step in that direction.
2. I have been continually licensed for 60 years as K1FWE and now NN1SS. My
first love was and still is CW. I made over 2,900 Qs in the last CQWW CW
and over 8,000 (mostly CW) as one of the N1W operators early this year. I
have 7 plaques on the wall - all from RTTY contests. I am not here to pump
the merits of WSJT. But I have, over the last two months of being on this
mode, definitely enjoyed using it. As I look at the Active Stations list
for 20m, I see 5 different continents represented. I like that. I can go to
other bands and likely see the same thing. I'm closing-in on Honor Roll
(six left to go) and I got the last two on FT8. It's new, it's different,
and I enjoy it in my retirement. I'd rather see this activity level on CW.
But as I sit here writing this, I can't. And I accept that.
73
John
NN1SS
On Mon, Apr 29, 2024 at 10:32 AM Steve Harrison <k0xp@k0xp.com> wrote:
> On 4/28/2024 6:13 AM, John Webster NN1SS wrote:
> > I would like to suggest that there may be broader implications. On any
> > given day, more than 80% of all activity on the HF bands is in the
> > digital modes and largely in FT8.
> >
> > Look at RBN spot data that was collected (I assume) last year:
>
> I would venture to suggest that attempting to use RBN data to adjudge
> intermittent and erratic CW callsigns as being an indicator of band
> activity is a fallacy of and by itself. For example, note how many times
> a CW caller is spotted on RBN while calling in a pileup. Or when in a
> QSO and only signing once, and maybe every other ten minutes or two. RBN
> requires several clear decryptions of an audible CW signal before it
> will register a callsign... and then only when the decryption is clearly
> a callsign, but it will also show something that somebody mangles while
> attempting to send their call (which happens, believe it or not).
>
> And what about the weekly CWT contests.... where are the RBN spots to
> show that activity?? They mostly don't appear, because callsigns aren't
> "heard" more than once or twice, or most of the time are always shifting
> frequency. Or when they do appear, the RBN more often only shows the
> strongest signals, rarely the weak pipsqueaks or those at the bottom of
> a propagation peak.
>
> That's not quite what happens with something like ft8 or 4, which
> transmissions contain almost nothing BUT callsigns, and for minutes at a
> time. Of course, ft8 is going to appear to be a more-heavily-used mode
> in comparision.
>
> And as Pete said, RBN doesn't register SSB signals (unless purposely
> spotted).
>
> Don't try using RBN as any indicator of relative activity for any mode;
> it can't and doesn't compute.
>
> Steve, K0XP
>
>
> _______________________________________________
>
>
>
> _______________________________________________
> TowerTalk mailing list
> TowerTalk@contesting.com
> http://lists.contesting.com/mailman/listinfo/towertalk
>
_______________________________________________
_______________________________________________
TowerTalk mailing list
TowerTalk@contesting.com
http://lists.contesting.com/mailman/listinfo/towertalk
|