[CQ-Contest] Contesting and the FT8 Revolution

[Jim Brown]

On 6/20/2021 9:46 AM, AB1J via CQ-Contest wrote:
> The ARRL hasn't done anything.  Technological change has.
> The DX clusters and RBN destroyed the value of DXCC.

One of the technological changes that many of us OTs has ignored while 
we brag about our achievements is the explosion of RF noise over the 
last 10-15 years. When I moved to W6 in 2006, it was possible to work EU 
on CW (although openings were few and far between), and I made several 
dozen QSOs over about 4 years. But the ubiquity of switch-mode power 
supplies and other noise sources on both ends of the path have made CW 
obsolete for THIS path. In the last six seasons, I've actually heard six 
of the EU CW spots I've seen, and only two have heard me, and with a 
better antenna farm than I had then.

And those living on the east coast and in EU talking about their high 
country counts need to admit to their advantage with DXCC. Working 
countries in or close to EU is comparable to working US states and VE 
provinces in the US. From my QTH near San Francisco, my relatively easy 
DX to populous countries (compared to EU from the east coast) yields JA, 
UA0, China, VK, KH6, KL7, and ZL. Using the analogy of American 
baseball, operating from EU or the east coast of NA and bragging about 
country counts is like running home from third base and thinking you hit 
a home run.

73, Jim K9YC