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

[Scott]

Wayne,

I'll give answering your question a try.  Hopefully I won't piss off 
everyone... and it won't be too long.

0).  First, monitor beacons or participate in the RBN for band openings 
and then call CQ on open bands.  Heck, call CQ on "closed" bands... one 
never knows.  I suspect there are more band openings than most would 
admit or even know about and maybe we need more hams willing to set up 
beacons.  I once copied a SSB qso of ON4UN and a stateside ham on 15m 
when all the prop computer programs said 15m was closed.

1).  CW ops should make MORE use of the computer... especially for 
calling CQ.  Once a reply is heard switch to "manual" cw mode (this is 
nothing new) AND adjust speed to station answering your CQ.  Nothing 
worse than an experienced cw op who won't bother to "talk" to a slow 
sending station... nothing.  It just sends the inexperienced cwop to 
digital and/or ssb where someone will likely answer no matter the "speed".

2)   CW ops need to not be prejudiced against keyboard sent code, 
especially at slower speeds or even someone using cw decoding sw.  I 
think younger hams might actually do more if there wasn't such "stink" 
put on ops using a keyboard and decoding sw.  Besides you do want to get 
younger hams interested in ham radio and especially CW... right?  And as 
time goes on those young or even old keyboard cw warriors may or may not 
learn to send with a paddle or a key but you've got to get them 
interested in CW first.  For some, it's an age vs. memory issue 
especially hams who started late in life.

3)  Now to beat up the computer geeks.  Someone could set up a twitter 
or gab account and advertise it to the ham community at large via 
reflectors and use the account specifically for reporting band openings. 
  Then you could get notified on the ubiquitous smart phone and who 
knows maybe there is or will be soon a rig remote control app for your 
phone.

4)  Digital mode software can be a bear to configure.  Clearly there 
should be just one or two "tabs" max to get it working quickly and all 
the other program integration configuration is icing on the cake. 
Complexity in a basic "getting it working" configuration is not good. 
And how about making the program/app window and fonts larger for crying 
out loud... I don't see as well as I used to and with the proliferation 
of large monitors these programs are a pain to even see anymore.  While 
this may increase digital ops I also believe that at some point even 
some digital ops will want to try and learn cw.

5)  Finally, I've noticed that a lot of younger millenials like "old 
school" stuff from LP 33 records to radio.  IF you can get them 
interested in Ham radio (a shameless plug for expanded tech privileges) 
there's a good chance they'll eventually want to learn cw one way or 
another.  The point is, more hams equals more chances for someone to 
answer your cw CQ.

I doubt any of that helps much except maybe paragraph 3, but there it 
is... thanks for letting me give it a shot.

Scott
AD5HS

On 6/1/2018 10:46 AM, Wayne Burdick wrote:
...<snip>...

> 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