[Boatanchors] The Silence of the Bands.

[Mark K3MSB]

Digital modes have their pros and cons.

The pros are they are an advancement in the state of the art of
communications technology, and can be a great help to those living in
apartments or areas with very restrictive antenna availability (thus
restrictive power).

The cons are they require very little skill and ability to use, therefore
achievements made with those modes are shallow. Those that attain such
shallow achievements want the same respect as those that use modes that
require skill and effort. To paraphrase the old E. F. Hutton commercial: “I
got my DX awards the old fashioned way – I earned them”.

Yes, the above are my subjective opinions; feel free to disagree or add as
you'd like.

To comment on Rodger's comments about Dxing, In my opinion, the real
problem with the digital modes is they are mixed in with the non-digital
modes for single band DXCC purposes.

I have 255 countries on 80M and 123 on 160 meters. I used CW for all of
them and it's taken years of effort, learning about and implementing RX
antennas etc. Effort and skill went into those achievements.

Now hams that are having difficulty increasing their DXCC standings are
turning towards FT8 and the JT modes. That's not a level playing field, and
I put a lot of the blame directly on the ARRL. They dropped the ball on
that issue just like they did on remote operations, two of the reasons I
elected to not renew my membership last November. To the league, the end
justifies the means. To me, the means are just as important as the ends.

Aural and non-aural modes (as I call them) need to be a discriminator for
award purposes (unless of course you're talking about “mixed” awards). My
ears can not compete with a computer that can hear signals beneath the
noise level. If you require a computer to make the QSO, it's non-aural
(JT-x, FT8, PSK etc). If you only need your ears then it's aural (CW, AM,
SSB etc). RTTY is a non-aural mode even though you can hear it – you still
require a computer (these days....)

And Rodger, I believe you own a Valiant and an SX-101. So yes you can
recreate that fun!

73 Mark K3MSB

On Sat, Sep 16, 2017 at 11:22 AM, Rodger Singley <wq9nsc at live.com> wrote:

> 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
>
>
>
> Sent from Mail <https://go.microsoft.com/fwlink/?LinkId=550986> for
> Windows 10
>
>
>
> *From: *Mark K3MSB <mark.k3msb at gmail.com>
> *Sent: *Saturday, September 16, 2017 9:11 AM
> *To: *Rob Atkinson <ranchorobbo at gmail.com>
> *Cc: *Boat Anchors List <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
>
>
>