[Elecraft] KPA1500 and FT8

[W0MU Mike Fatchett]

Weak Signal work on 160m is very different than a band that is wide 
open.  The key here is clean signals not being over driven. The amount 
of power being used is not the issue it is how poorly a transmitted 
signal is.

The vast majority do not understand this concept and think FT8 is a QRP 
mode.  It is not.  Just because the masses thing one way does make it 
the way it is.  As long as my signal is clean is should not matter how 
much power I am running.  when the band is wide open to an area you see 
lots of wide signals, mostly because we have our receivers opened op 
wide so there is very little filtering going on so front ends start to 
get overworked.

Power is only one factor.  Lets talk about antenna gain as well.

Bill was correct  FT8 is a weak signal mode.  It was never created as a 
low power mode that I have read.

W0MU

On 3/3/2018 9:35 PM, Carl J. Denbow wrote:
> Using 1500 watts on a digital mode (except for RTTY) is unwarranted a 
> bad practice.  I've been using the new digital modes since PSK31 
> started.  I was on the bleeding edge of working with PSK in its 
> earliest days.  This is the first time I've heard anyone try to 
> justify using that kind of wattage on a weak signal mode.  The vast 
> majority of those who use the JT modes (including FT8) consider QRO to 
> be 100 watts.  As I said what you are doing is legal, but it does fly 
> in the face of the general consensus among users of these modes.  If a 
> poll was taken of users of these modes, I'm quite certain your 
> position would be a distinct minority.  73 de Carl N8VZ
>
>> Nr4c <mailto:nr4c at widomaker.com>
>> March 3, 2018 at 10:54 PM
>> Weak signal is not the same as low power !
>>
>> Sent from my iPhone
>> ...nr4c. bill
>>
>>
>>
>