VHFrs,
IMHO FT8 has become the dog to kick as an excuse for contest capable hams
to decline to participate in contests. They have become disgruntled that
they no longer get pileups where they can work hundreds of QSOs per hour,
so it's not worth their time to participate.
In my area, FM08, there are hams who are active 50 MHz & up during
weekly/daily nets who love to disparage FT8 as the reason they refuse to
participate in contests.
Their lack of participation is what is killing the SSB/CW part of
contesting.
Yes phone VHF contesting may have been more fun before FT8 came along, but
looking back in the past isn't going to improve the present. My aging body
can remember when things were easier 20 years ago too, but that doesn't
change the fact that time is moving forward. As a stubborn old fool I am
not giving up.
My 2 cents, YMMV
73 de KV4ZY
Doug
On Mon, Sep 12, 2022 at 10:12 PM Fred Stefanik <n1dpmfred@gmail.com> wrote:
> I think there's a few factors....
>
> 1. FT8 operations as the "norm" have driven a number of people away
> from VHF contesting. I for one am one of those people.... Now with
> the analog only category it seems to be starting to breathe some new
> life back into the contest. I wasn't able, because of other
> commitments, to get on except for late Sunday night towards the end
> and I found "plenty" of activity on SSB then to satisfy me whereas
> before it would have been ALL FT8. There is as Paul says a place for
> FT8, but that is not cranking out contact numbers, but where it's too
> marginal for a CW contact.
>
> 2. The ham population is aging (if you haven't noticed). I'm 61 and
> still feel like a "kid" in this hobby! There are some new younger
> ones joining the ranks but it is uncommon! I remember how old hams
> "crabbed" about the new hams that gained interest in the late 70's as
> a result of the CB radio boom. I'm one of those guys! Ham radio has
> been one of the best things in my life as it allowed and helped propel
> me through my professional career in the broadcast transmitter
> business. I am mentoring a "kid" at work in RF and he's catching on
> and I've suggested that he look into this hobby as it will help with
> his understanding (and because I still think it's cool). I have a
> number of mentors to thank, such as my older brother WA1CYK, W1KK,
> W1QWJ, WA1UQC (all SK) and NC1I, K1WHS, W1VD, KA1ZE (W3XTT), WB1FVS
> and MANY more....So regardless of the origin of new hams, anyone that
> is a young newcomer to the hobby from wherever....help them out and
> give them guidance and mentoring to help them enjoy the hobby and
> learn, or this hobby will go the way of the dinosaur!
>
> 3. (or 2A) As the hobby's population ages there are more and more
> SK's by percentage every month / year, the pandemic notwithstanding!
> Think of how many hams we all know that have become SK's in say the
> last 5 years (about how long FT8 has been popular). They need to be
> remembered but also need to be replaced (that dinosaur thing again).
> Somehow I think that guys like K1WHS will never get old (or maybe
> never grow up to be an adult, maybe a more accurate statement!)
>
> So all in all I think this FT8 / analog only category will help things
> head in the right direction (in my opinion) but it will take time to
> reach equilibrium.
>
> 73
> Fred
> N1DPM
> FN32qb
> 160m - 432MHz + 10GHz portable
>
> On Mon, Sep 12, 2022 at 8:33 AM <k3sk@buckwalter.co> wrote:
> >
> >
> > I blame most of the weekend on very bad propagation and mostly general
> lack
> > of participation.
> >
> > This was both, the worst propagation in 30 years I ever remember during a
> > VHF contest. And, it was also my first ever contest using a digital mode
> > (FT8). I worked as many SSB contacts as I could find, with frequent
> moves to
> > that portion of the band. I only heard 4 or 5 CW calls and all but one
> was
> > stations I already had logged.
> >
> > During the later hours almost all FT8 I copied were dupes, calls I
> worked on
> > SSB or FT8 earlier. This was no different than other VHF contests, where
> > only the diehards and power-house multi-op stations just keep hammering
> > away. I did the same thing. I kept visiting the SSB calling frequencies
> and
> > called over and over with no response.. Then I'd go to FT8 and do the
> same
> > thing, getting the same results.
> >
> > Regardless of the mode, it was tough digging out a contact. An example
> that
> > proves this point is 222 MHz. Of the contest bands it's not a normally
> > active band but it's one I have and enjoy. I run a full KW and 4 10
> element
> > LFAs on 222 MHz. In the past on this band I've worked 20 to 50 QSOs,
> > sometimes more. Over this entire weekend I worked 9 contacts! 5 of them
> were
> > on SSB and 4 were on FT8. There's nothing wrong with the equipment as
> half
> > the QSOs were 400+ mile contacts, Q5 copy and some of those were SSB. On
> FT8
> > I kept hearing the same 3 stations over and over again all weekend.
> >
> > There just wasn't anyone there to work, regardless of mode.
> >
> > de K3SK
> >
> >
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