This was posted on another contest forum and is worth a re-post here. J
The "NEW" Contest Killer
FT8!
Yep. In over 30+ years of contesting, I never thought I would NOT put in a full
effort in a major contest, but I only played around for a couple hours in WW PH
and SS CW because I was on FT8.
FT8 exchanges make it very attractive to the contester types. Quick signal
report, exchange some grid square nonesense that very few care about and move
on the the next contact..PERFECT!
Sure, FT8 requires very little, if any skill. You can basically mash your face
on the keyboard, roll it around, and make QSO's, but the fact that I can sit in
the NW with my small crappy vertical and 20w and work a never ending string of
Europieans while the band is open is fun as hell. If I have PSK Reporter up
it's even better! Watching all of EU light up on the map from a few simple CQ's
makes me think Whoa! can this be real? Is this some kind of cheesy ham radio
mode connected through the internet? Nope, it's REAL radio using the
ionisphere, and it's a drug. I feel like i'm operating a DX contest from the
East Coast. And i'm sure it's a similar feeling for the East Coast boys to work
into Japan and SE Asia.
Let's see... I can operate a major contest watching unworkable spots roll by,
constinately getting trounced and totally rekted in pile-ups, where my chances
of actually calling CQ and getting responses is zero OR I can sit here and
run DX stations with my piss weak station about as fast as I can given my 15sec
slot and fill my log with DX contacts. hmmm...thinking...
Honestly I haven't had this type of excitement where the possibilities are
endless as to what country will call me next since playing with Dr DX on my
Commodore 64 back in the day.
Is this a fad that's popular because it's new? Maybe. The big station guys will
all try it and mess around with it for awhile, but for the small stations guys
it's the "Real Deal".
The contest organizers need to take note here as it's always been a running
topic on how to get the "new blood" into contesting. Moving forward, FT8 won't
make it any easier.
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