[Elecraft] FT8 - was "On Second Thought, I'll Take The Stairs"

[David Gilbert]

Fine, but that demarcation is pretty arbitrary.  You could just as 
easily go back to tube gear with crystal controlled transmitters and 
regenerative receivers., but I'd be a lot of money you don't.  The gear 
you operate compares little in form, fit or function to anything those 
folks used back then.  Your current radio almost certainly has a lot of 
digital signal processing already, and I'll bet you use a keyer instead 
of a hand key.  Quite frankly, I can just as easily imagine somebody at 
his keyboard on the other end as I could if he was operating a paddle.  
Most DXing and almost all contesting is already somebody simply pounding 
on a function key on a keyboard.

And like I said before, it is entirely possible to preserve the bulk of 
everything you mention and still use modern signal processing to make 
human connections more achievable.  WSJT-X just doesn't happen to be 
that at this point, but that doesn't mean something else couldn't be.

Dave   AB7E




On 7/13/2020 12:41 AM, Victor Rosenthal 4X6GP wrote:
> For me, it's simple.
>
> When I make a CW contact, even if its total content is "ENN TU", I am 
> connected to history, to Jack Phillips on the Titanic, to all of the 
> military traffic men and airborne radio operators of WWII, to the 
> operators on the merchant ships on the high seas and the Great Lakes, 
> and to all the hams of the past, even Mr. Marconi, the first ham.
>
> I like hearing the propagation change with my own ears and struggling 
> to capture an ESP-level call. I like the feel of the key and the sound 
> of the code. I like the idea that there is another person like me at 
> the other end with his or her hand on a key.
>
> I consider myself extremely lucky to have caught the bug at a young 
> age and developed the skill needed to make CW as transparent to me as 
> my mother tongue. I see how hard it is for those who begin to learn at 
> middle age or older. They shouldn't give up -- it's worth it.
>
> 73,
> Victor, 4X6GP
> Rehovot, Israel
> Formerly K2VCO
> CWops no. 5
> http://www.qsl.net/k2vco/
> .
> On 13/07/2020 5:06, Wayne Burdick wrote:
>>
>>> On Jul 12, 2020, at 6:57 PM, David Gilbert <ab7echo at gmail.com>
>>> wrote:
>>>
>>> Think of it this way ... CW works fine as both a contest mode,
>>> DXing mode, and conversational mode.  Underlaying CW with a well
>>> configured digital signal processing scheme like that which is
>>> under FT8, except with a different user interface than either
>>> WSJT-X or JS8,  could be equally versatile but with maybe 6-8 db
>>> better S/N ... possibly by an even greater margin if the decoding
>>> allowed errors instead of being all or nothing.
>>
>>
>> Except that (a) you don't have to know CW, and (b) you don't need a
>> key. There goes 73% of its charm :)
>>
>> Wayne N6KR
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