[ADXA] FT8 thoughts

[Dennis Schaefer]

I’m not as active as I was at one time, but listen to CW a lot.  I’m not too worried about FT8 hurting ham radio, any more than DMR.  Lots of people gush about DMR and being able to work DX with a handheld.  They don’t have a DX chasers heart - using the internet for 99% of the path isn’t a problem for them.  DMR was very popular and now seems to be dying back a bit.  I bought a DMR HT - it was $89.00 and everyone was talking about DMR and the club used DMR for a public service event we supported.   Some just love discussing code plugs and all the little technical details of connecting a radio to the internet and coming out anywhere in the world, but most people lose interest pretty quick.  I still use mine occasionally.

FT8 seems the same.  Everyone talks about FT8, so I did it.  It was different, and I loved the brightly colored screen and waterfall the same way I like the “bell ringing” tones of RTTY.   I used it for a magnetic loop demonstration where we were deep inside a building and couldn’t even hear any CW or SSB signals.   I’ve fired it up on other occasions, but it’s just a small part of my interest.  I can see people losing interest, though except for the hard core and others who are occasional users.   The reason is the protocol complications.  It was pretty simple at first, but now there are endless and unresolvable arguments about how to operate and when to log a QSO.  Do you need to copy a 73 message, or is RR73 OK?  Do you need to do something so the other guy will know you copied his 73?   When is getting the RRR message enough?   What about contest QSO’s?   DXpeditions?  Each of these has a different protocol and there are often disagreements about what it is.  Not only that, but if you disagree with someone’s idea of how it should be done, he may attack you on the internet, or send you a nasty text message.   People attack others for having a strong signal.  They have no idea that propagation and a good antenna can result in a strong signal, they think if someone has a high db level in their program, they are running “too much” power.   Because of this, I think growth of FT8 is self-limiting.  Many hams just won’t put up with this on a regular basis.  

This incessant arguing may not be as prevalent on VHF, and FT8 really makes more sense for VHF.  I’ve listened for hundreds of hours on 144.200 and not heard any signals.  With FT8, I can set my rig to 144.174 and come in anytime and see if the band is open.   FT8 is a lot like the advent of the cluster - it takes away the responsibility to actually tune the band and listen.  That is probably overall a bad thing, but the reality is that most people will adapt to it and use the cluster and also **occasionally** use FT8 as a beacon.  

Time to check 6 meters for DX, I guess - 73,
Dennis