[Elecraft] Boldly OT: 6 meter Sporadic-E season and the FT-8 microjuggernaut

[Al Lorona]

I wrote an April Fool's article back in like 1999 (I might still be able to find it on dejanews) describing a make-believe ARRL contest which was totally automated; contesters could come home from work and peruse their logs to see what stations their computers had 'worked' that day.  When parody becomes reality, it's no longer funny. I'm chagrined that that fictitious day appears to have finally arrived.
FT8 is just a phase. It is the mode du jour, the next in a long parade of digital modes that stretches back to AMTOR and packet. This too, shall pass, to be replaced with the Next Big Mode, which in turn will pass and be replaced. In the meantime, there hasn't been a single CW signal in the morning on 40 meters so I can test out my new homebrew FD rig. It's very depressing.
Al W6LX

      From: Wayne Burdick <n6kr at elecraft.com>
 To: Elecraft Reflector <elecraft at mailman.qth.net> 
Cc: "KX3 at yahoogroups.com" <KX3 at yahoogroups.com>; elecraft_k3 at yahoogroups.com
 Sent: Friday, June 1, 2018 8:47 AM
 Subject: [Elecraft] Boldly OT: 6 meter Sporadic-E season and the FT-8 microjuggernaut
   
At first I thought it was my receiver. Or my antenna farm, limited in scale by a pre-nuptial clause. Or noise caused by the zomboid army of switching power supplies oozing inexorably into my personal space.

Nope. 

It turns out the dearth of CW and SSB signals on 6 meters at the height of 2018 Spring Sporadic-E season can be traced to one factor: the 24-hour intravenous rave that is FT-8.

Yeah, I get the whole sub-noise-floor-and-not-automated-(wink)-QSO thing. But I’d like to figure out how those of us who enjoy the occasional gear-grinding manual-transmission contact can find each other on this brave new highway. Ideas?

Wayne
N6KR

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