[Elecraft] "On second thought, I'll take the stairs."

[Wes]

Although I have little use for FT8 I did try it early on and from time to time I 
try it again.  I have learned that to work DX with a modest station such as I 
have, some skill in signal placement and timing is important.  Unfortunately, 
FT8 removes the timing trick, but signal placement does make a difference.

My gripes with the mode is that it's too easy for DX stations to plop down on an 
FT8 freq and never check propagation or operate on traditional modes.  Another 
is that ARRL hasn't seen fit to create a separate DXCC award for these modes, 
but has lumped it in with RTTY (which has been downgraded to "Digital").  My 
DXCC certificate says, "RTTY" and I want to keep it that way.

Wes  N7WS


On 7/13/2020 8:48 AM, Carl Yaffey wrote:
> My two cents: FT8 is a bit more than using a computer to make contacts. Believe it or not, there is skill involved. Just try working a DX station when a load of others are trying. Can you say “pile up”? It ain’t simple.