Thing is about FT-8,,
As someone who has played with it a LOT. 1000's of contacts. And have
tried in a few contests too. And I can see only two ways it will ever be
a "Contest Mode"
1- When the conditions are sooo extremely bad that CW & SSB are just not
cutting it.
2- When you have it set up to run 100% automatically on it's own. (not
really legal if left un attended)
The 100% automated is easy to do. And I have actually done it just to
see how hard it would be and if it would handle the task. I sat and
watched it run the freq. I never left it alone so would be legal. It ran
flawlessly and made over a hundred contacts all by itself.
BUT.... if the band is open then it is incredibly SLOW!!!!!!! I can make
ten times the contacts in CW or SSB in the time FT-8 takes to make one
and thats if all exchanges were copied with one try. And staying with
digital RTTY would be similar effect probably close to ten times the
contacts.
FT-8 is far from a Contest mode. Just toooo slow.
Joe WB9SBD
Sig
The Original Rolling Ball Clock
Idle Tyme
Idle-Tyme.com
http://www.idle-tyme.com
On 3/24/2019 8:53 PM, robert wrote:
GE Jeff
I hate to say it but your remark about "dumb down contest to
the point
where no skills are required " is on the horizon when it
comes to FT8.
This from someone who spends 20% of his time on FT8 ! I
believe it is also
making some of us a bit more of a lazy operator.
73 BoB WA1FCN
On 3/24/2019 4:36 PM, Jeff Clarke wrote:
If you're into FT8 there seems to be plenty of DX spotted on a daily
basis to keep your typical DXer happy despite the bad radio conditions.
Can you see the scenario in the future that those casual contesters
are going to call for the sponsors to all add FT8 as a valid mode for
their contest? Hope it doesn't happen and dumb down contests to the
point where no skills are required.
Jeff
On 3/24/2019 03:24 PM, Bill kollenbaum via CQ-Contest wrote:
The post was not about the demise of contesting, it was about
sunspots numbers and propagation. If you look at the numbers, they
predict a flux consistently in the 50s. I can't remember ever
seeing a number that low. We have been banging around 70 or so for
most of this year, with a few exception like those right now (around
80). Almost everyone seems to agree, that at that number conditions
are not very good
Of course we will always have some bands open, but if the null in
the sunspots continue through 2022 it is generally thought that this
cycle will be extremely low at the peak since there is a direct
correlation between the length of the minimum and the strength of
the next cycle.
This may or may not have an effect on contesting. However, it is
pretty easy to see that it has had an effect on daily operating.
KH7XS,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,
Bill,
You have made other statements about the demise of contesting. It's
not happening.
For example, 2900 QSO's from New Mexico in ARRL DX CW a few weekends
ago. No
sunspots. Great fun.
73,
Steve, N2IC
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