[Boatanchors] The Silence of the Bands.

[Rodger Singley]

A lot of those guys ought to be just as happy running a simulation program so that they can pretend to be working lots of exotic stuff.

My activity level has gone way down because of loss of interest.  I started DXing, primarily CW, in 1975 right after I upgraded to General.  Actually my first real DX was my second contact on 15 meters while still a novice when VQ9MI from the Seychelles responded to my CQ.  A major part of the fun for me then was DXing was like fishing, a lot of time thinking and looking with the resultant thrill of landing a good one.  Using a spotting site with automatic radio tuning to that spot takes all of the fun out of it for me.

Although I can’t recreate the fun of using a Johnson Valiant and Hallicrafters SX-101 to chase DX in the 1970s environment I decided after a few months that being a keyboard cowboy was about as much fun as contacting someone via my smartphone.

Yes, at 57 I have officially turned into a grouchy old ham 😊

Rodger WQ9E

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From: Mark K3MSB<mailto:mark.k3msb at gmail.com>
Sent: Saturday, September 16, 2017 9:11 AM
To: Rob Atkinson<mailto:ranchorobbo at gmail.com>
Cc: Boat Anchors List<mailto:boatanchors at mailman.qth.net>
Subject: Re: [Boatanchors] The Silence of the Bands.

Hi Ron

FT8 is the new “designer drug” for the digital crowd. It's been out for
just over 2 months so it's simply “the rage” for them.

Yes conditions have been pretty bad, but I'm still making CW QSOs with my
old boat anchor gear. 80M Has been horrid, but 40 and 20 have been holding
up pretty well considering the conditions.

This last weekend was the Classic Exchange contest (such as it is.....) and
we got hit with 2 solar flares. The bands were none too good, but I managed
to make 15 QSOs with my ARC-5 gear and another 15 or so with my 5100B /
SX-101 radios. Not the best band conditions by far, but QSOs were made.

I also have noticed that most of the DX has been trying FT8; it's new – and
it makes racking up those DXCC totals effortless.... Remember, there are a
LOT of people that live and die by their DXCC totals, and as we approach
the sun spot minimum, FT8 is the proverbial manna from heaven for those
guys.

So the digital modes will allow people to quickly run up their DXCC totals.
There's only a certain number of DXCC entities out there – what are these
guys going to do then?

73 Mark K3MSB