On 3/19/2021 7:43 PM, Marshall-K5QE wrote:
Hello Mr. Duffey(no call)....Maybe we should just ask other top
operators how they feel about this. To me, it FEELS like we are
making a lot less 6M contacts than before. Maybe we are getting a few
more mults, but maybe not too. The slow rate of FT8 makes it FEEL
like we are wallowing in mud. It is almost impossible to get any rate
with FT8. Will FT8 bring in some contacts that otherwise would not be
made?? Of course it will.
Because there is almost never any Es in January, FT8 is well suited
for slugging it out on 6M. To me, January is always a slugging
match. Rate in January is almost non-existent. So, you have to keep
your butt in the chair and pound it out. At this, FT8 works well.
The June contest is where slow rates are a killer. As I posted
previously, we made 1836 contacts on 6M in 2010(and unfortunately,
came in second to K5TR). Will we ever see this kind of rate again??
With the casual ops welded to FT8 and the resulting slow rates, I
don't see it.
What is the feeling of other ops? Are you making more or less QSOs on
6M with FT8?
I proposed checking for SSB/CW on the hour and half hour. What do
others think about that?? IF you find a bit of SSB/CW, then you will
surely make more contacts and more mults as long as the Es lasts. If
the band dies out, then you can go back to FT8.
I hope that we have some big time propagation this June. Hopefully,
everyone will get a piece of it....
73 Marshall K5QE
On 3/18/2021 12:57 AM, James Duffey wrote:
Marshall - You wrote "However,the total scores of everyone in the
contest has gone DOWN due to thefact that FT8 takes so long to make a
contact.”
I suppose you used “everyone” for effect, but the facts don’t bear it
out, at least for the January contest. Consider the K5QE Limited
Multioperator scores since they switched from the Unlimited
Multioperator category in 2014, separated into before the
introduction of the WSJT-X modes and the three years after the
introduction of WSJT-X:
January VHF Contest scores
YearTotal Score
—Pre WSJT-x—
201475969
201594724
201669344
201761,766
—With WSJT-X—
201879205
201976212
202094941
September VHF Contest scores
YearTotal Score
—Pre WSJT-x—
201378740
2014NA
201548320
2016NA
201763570
—With WSJT-X—
201843420
201960606
202047142
June VHF Results
YearTotal Score
—Pre WSJT-x—
2013383691
2014483448
2015273000
2016629241
2017409260
—With WSJT-X—
2018394272
2019252170
2020220640
It doesn’t look like your total scores have gone down much since the
introduction of WSJT-X. Now, I realize that there are a lot of
factors that enter into your scores,
On Jan 31, 2021, at 3:04 PM, vhfcontesting-request@contesting.com
<mailto:vhfcontesting-request@contesting.com> wrote:
Hello everyone....Switching to FT4 sounds great, except that the
"casual
contesters" are not there. They seem to be welded to FT8 and will not
move. I have often listened on 50.318 during the contests and I hear
nothing there. That forces me back to .313 after a few minutes of lost
contest time.
In June of 2010, the QE contest station made 1836 contacts on 6M using
SSB/CW. Jay-W9RM was a major part of that. I think that he sat in the
chair for hours and he is a very good operator. All that, and we
came in
SECOND(!!!) on 6M in terms of contacts made. Can anyone really imagine
that happening today?
FT8 is very popular, especially among the casual operators. They are
making contacts that they know they could not make otherwise. That is
why they are addicted to FT8 and will not use anything else. However,
the total scores of everyone in the contest has gone DOWN due to the
fact that FT8 takes so long to make a contact. Yes, FT4 would cut that
time in half, but even if everything was perfect, FT4 can make a
contact
in 30 sec. A really good operator can make 4-5 contacts in the same
time on SSB.
So to summarize, participation is apparently up and scores are down.
That seems contradictory, but it also seems to be true.
How can we improve participation AND scores??? I don't know. I really
don't like the idea of allowing two different contacts, one on FTx and
one on SSB/CW, with the same station. I like the idea of checking for
SSB on the hour and the half hour. It is easy to program a button on
your rig that goes to 50.125MHz. Push the button for a quick check on
SSB and if nothing is there, go back to FTx.? Announcing an SSB opening
on the reflectors would help too.
OH WELL, June is approaching and we will get another chance. Hopefully,
we will get some killer Es and we can make contacts like crazy.
73 Marshall K5QE
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