[ADXA] ] FT8 thoughts

Sat Jun 29 15:06:06 EDT 2019

Excellent wording and thoughts Dennis!! I agree on so many of your comments, what protocol, when is a QSO complete, someone saying they worked you and it was not a “complete” QSO, etc.. Some DXers and DXpeditioners vary on what is “complete”. Some DXers will argue with the guy on other end that QSO “was OK” and one may not have had a printout at all or heard his call on CW at all. Those are sneaky QSOs completed by convincing the other party that all “was OK” for a QSO.. Really??!! Newcomers to meteor scatter or FT8 can be persuaded, as we all know.

On Meteor Scatter skeds it was (1)both calls, (2)his call + S2, (3)RS2 alone, (4)RRR; then maybe a 73 and another R73 but the main protocol was the first 4 mentioned. 73 not needed. A RRR from station who got the first RRR was not really needed. Meteors might only last ½ second or maybe 2 and you never knew when the ‘Big one’ lasting 10 seconds might occur. If a station just finished giving the station’s call on sked and an S2 and it was at the “turnover” of  1st 15 second segment to 2nd segment, the astute guy would give a quick RS2 and a K and not transmit all of his 15 second interval. The other guy would say RRR K and all would happen in 5-6 seconds. Many QSOs did not happen because a guy would miss a meteor still in effect and continue to transmit his entire 15 seconds. Sometimes you broke protocol when it was OBVIOUS and both ops were experienced. 

I’ll never forget a meteor sked with a rare grid on west coast. NOTHING heard in 29 minutes and 30 seconds and only one more 15 second segment to listen for the guy and then end of sked. BANG, he was in for 10-12 seconds and a quick QSO resulted. He said I was in for 10 seconds or so. Til then NO pings at all, but we BOTH stayed the entire sked. I trusted him and vice versa. Many guys quit in 10 minutes if no pings heard. Meteors are so unexpected.   All this shadows how 6m E skip is, getting in and out quickly, and on FT8 I would imagine a strict protocol would vary from person to person. At least that is what I am seeing, especially on DX Summit every day.  Again, TU Dennis, great explanation and thoughts. I was on PSK for a while til I found that those QSOs were good for digital DXCC, and then I stopped working “new ones” when they were already worked on RTTY. Never got on JT65 etc. One digital (RTTY) was OK with me and have 310 confirmed but never sent for a DXCC certificate when I got 100-110 or so confirmed. I know I got ‘em and that’s what counts here. 

My family (wife and 3 kids) have told me all certificates, plaques, awards of any sort will all be thrown away when I pass on. I asked that two be kept on the wall for a full year. All QSL cards will be thrown out and only the equipment will be left to sell. Have two ham friends going to help on that.
73 and CU at Annual ADXA event. It will be fun. Just hope nothing weird like in the 1970s in Hot Springs, Eldorado or Ft. Smith. But the memories are there. Sorry for long email. Enuff for today from me.
San

Sent from Mail for Windows 10

From: Dennis Schaefer
Sent: Saturday, June 29, 2019 1:02 PM
To: ADXA at mailman.qth.net
Subject: [ADXA] FT8 thoughts

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

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