[Elecraft] Contributing (wasRe: FT8 Upgrade)

[Jim Brown]

On 11/29/2018 1:09 AM, Richard Lamont wrote:
> The -rc* versions are release candidates, i.e. beta packages for
> testing. People who use them are expected to report any anomalies they
> find on the relevant mailing list.
>
> If you don't want to test and report bugs, you should not be using (and
> there is no point in you using) the -rc* packages.

Contributing to the development of FREE software that we use is a bad 
thing? WSJT-X is a voluntary effort by a group of hams who are 
proficient at programming. Simply by using the new software we make QSOs 
with other hams who are also using it, we are contributing.

Since my earliest days in ham radio (I was 14) other hams taught me CW, 
electronics, radio, and how to operate. One gave me my first rig, 
another taught me the fundamentals of contesting. Ham radio has always 
had a tradition of of individual hams contributing what they can based 
on their capabilities. I've watched W6OAT do a wonderful job of warmly 
mentoring a prospective ham at the GOTA station on Field Day. Testing 
beta software is a contribution. I contribute by doing research on 
technical issues that matter to hams and publishing it, FOR FREE.

Mamy of the folks who make the greatest contributions to ham radio don't 
ask for money, but they really hope that others will do their part. 
Among them are AC6LA, the author of great spreadsheets that run in Excel 
to do tricks with antennas and transmission lines, AE6TY, who wrote the 
wonderful SimsSmith software, AA6YQ, author of the wonderful DXLabs 
suite that includes DXKeeper, and the team that produces the N1MM 
contest logger. And there are the thousands of hams who contribute to 
EmComm, to mentoring new hams, to teaching license classes, to helping 
other hams with computers, antennas, and so on. This is a chance for all 
of us to help out the WSJT-X team. All of this stuff is GREAT software, 
and it's FREE. The least we can do is using their beta software!

73, Jim K9YC