Well, i’ve been known to exaggerate…. Thanks, Joel, for the kind words. I’ve gotten a lot of new counters from the DXpeditions, and pick up other new ones from time to time. I got an HK3 on 30M last night and it was a counter. It was an HK and it was on FT8 - whatever it takes to add to the count, which is now 1356 with a bunch of OQRS to come when current expeditions close out. That’s not bad, considering that my goal was 1300 by the end of the year and 1400 by the end of 2024.

I’m not sure I’m smart enough for FT8, though. I have smart friends, and they give good advice, but I still ponder sometimes whether to turn F/H on. Some of the expeditions say they will be 100% multi stream yet it occasionally seems necessary to use F/H to get a response.

I’ve worked VU7M on 30 and 40. I called them for an hour or so on 20 with no response. There were traces on the waterfall on 20 but some sequences did not decode due to flutter. I didn’t need it on 20, so I didn’t try too hard. However, I see on the online log that I have 3 contacts on 20! It is easy to believe that he came back to me one or more times, but I never sent him an R-xx response at any time on 20 because I never copied him coming back to me. This seems to be an integrity issue with software in use.

VU7M seems to be one guy running four digital stations. Have you seen the picture with the four stations, all with amps, piled on one table? Obviously they are automated. I guess you need lots of coffee and a strong table.

T32TT is running 10 stations with two guys on site - sigh. Times are changing. At least T32TT is doing a little CW.