I have been reading the posts starting with Jeff K1ZM's first post on
the 160/FT8 issue.
Jeff and I had some personal discussions about this during the V84SAA
DXpedition.
I have waited to comment because I am sad that the Hobby I love is
dying.
From personal experience the last couple of years I can tell you that
Digital has totally killed CW/SSB activity on Six meters. Two years ago
I could get on Six when band was open and start a pileup in a few
minutes by calling CQ and run station after station.
The first time I got on Six meters was June 6, 2017 I worked over 200
Eu stations in a few hours. That Summer I had many good runs into
Europe, whenever there were Digital spots I could make CW contacts. (I
think the so called advantage of FT8 pulling signals out of the noise
that can't be worked on CW is a myth) Quite often I would "open the
band" by calling CQ.
Move on to last year 2018 and I would have to call CQ for quite a while
to make a contact and then only a few people calling. This year I can
call CQ for an hour and not work anyone. Sad.
The same thing that has happened to Six meters has spread to the other
bands including our beloved Topband. Three years ago I could call CQ on
160 and get a nice little pile-up going, work 50-100 guys in a hour or
two. Two years ago the pile ups shrank to nothing, and last season I
could call CQ for 10-15 minutes and NO ONE calls! The only time anyone
is on is for a Contest or when a DXpedition is on.
Many DX stations and worse still, DXpeditions are running mainly/only
FT8 on 160.
Personally I have less than Zero interest in clicking a mouse and having
a computer do all the communicating. I can not see what satisfaction you
get by making a "Contact" in this manner.
But the fact that little skill is needed for these "contacts", nor
little in the way of equipment (No big antennas, no Amps, etc) nor the
fact that it is totally boring, these are not the reasons I say that
Digital modes are the DEATH OF HAM RADIO.
Please don't tell me "They said the same thing abt SSB" it is NOT the
same! SSB did not take the Human out of the loop.
First off: What happens to all the Amateur Radio equipment manufacturers
that make CW keyers, paddles, microphones, headphones, etc??? Don't need
any of those things to make digital "contacts"
Since Digital is so superior, no need for High power Linear Amps, no big
towers, no big antennas, so all those companies will go by the wayside
eventually also.
AND MOST IMPORTANTLY:
As others have pointed out, what happens when we lose our spectrum space
to commercial interests?
How can we justify our need of large frequency bands when only a few Khz
of bandwidth is only being used?
When the Internet provides bandwidths up to hundreds of MB/second and
with 5G GB/Sec speeds, compare this to our Digital modes that provide a
speed of a few characters a minute???
How will we justify our need of RF spectrum when we are communicating
digitally only a few characters a minute?
The folks I have talked to give only one reason for using FT8: "It is an
easy way to work a new one".
Now since everyone has this new "easy" way to work new countries, and
the "contacts" count towards the Normal Mixed DXCC award, everyone is
grabbing new ones the easy way, hence the shift in activity to Digital
modes.
So what motivates the FT8 activity is the desire to increase ones DXCC
totals.
The problem is these Digital mode "contacts" need to be separated from
the mixed DXCC, the ARRL needs to step up and create a Digital only DXCC
(Not RTTY).
A separate Digital DXCC might stop the bleeding of CW/SSB activity,
However I don't think the ARRL will do this as it makes too much sense,
and I am afraid it is too late anyway.
Enjoy it while you can.
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