de VE9AA > I am not quite as old as Jim/N3BB but have been around radio since
the 60's and I find myself of basically the same attitude.
I'm no Luddite, and accept most technologies as they come along, but derive
absolutely zero satisfaction from FT8 QSO's (I think I made 1 or 2 back when it
came out). That's it in a nutshell. Where is the satisfaction?
It is (was) simply amazing tech, but there's nothing in it for me. All my
147DXCC's on 6m (for example)
were done the old fashion way. SSB or CW. For me to work new ones via FT8
would take all my (personal)
pride away from the decades of hard work it took me to do that.
On a related aspect, FT8 leaves a bad taste in my mouth, as it has removed 95%
of the 6m DX on SSB and CW DX chasing possibilities for me, though
we did get a nice opening the other day to EU and I worked 55 stns on CW (guess
they had also grown weary of watching a computer
do it for them) as most are now "parked" on 50.313MHz or wherever, refusing to
budge even though the band is open.
Contesting w/ FT8? Sorry. I don't see the lure. Each to his own however and I
remind myself the world would be a boring place if we were all the same.
73
Mike VE9AA
Tor, I'm having a hard time even taking this thread seriously ... no critique
on your excellent comments. But why in the world would anyone want to use the
FT modes for a contest? The speed-slowing limitations of the transmssion
notwithstanding, letting my computer detect some sub-noise signals through
brilliant DSP technology and talk w/out me ever at the keyboard to another
system doing the same? That's a contact? Just baffles my 79 year old ham radio
brain.
I totally "get it" that this is amazing technology and can have military and
scientific uses, but for hobbiests to use it to "communicate" so-called amateur
radio contacts in some form of competition just leaves me totally cold.
But it is what it is, apparently, to many in our hobby.
Jim N3BB
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