[CQ-Contest] Fwd: 6M CW

[David Gilbert]

Everything I wrote was accurate.  It's not a false equivalence.

The gripes you (and I) have with FT8 are due to the WSJT-X interface 
that takes the operator out of the picture ... not the digital 
processing behind it.  I've pointed out before that it is even 
technically possible to use a normal CW keyer to send CW to your 
computer via it's USB or RS-232 interface, have the computer digitize 
that in short bursts that look very much like FT8, feed that to your rig 
just like WSJT-X does, transmit those digital bursts like FT8 does, 
receive them on the other end, decode them by your computer, and convert 
the bursts into audio CW for the operator to decode.  It would look 
almost exactly like CW on both ends, except for better S/N performance.  
You would still have to be able to send CW and copy it by ear.

Given the very lifelike text-to-voice translators that are already 
freely available on the internet, the same could even be done with SSB.

And the ironic thing here is that all of that could be done by computer 
processing inside the rig such that you'd never even know that it was 
there ... just like you apparently don't realize just how much digital 
processing is already being done there.  Some day some manufacturer will 
do exactly that.

73,
Dave   AB7E



On 10/27/2022 5:35 AM, James Cain wrote:
> ---------- Forwarded message ---------
> From: James Cain <jamesdavidcain at gmail.com>
> Date: Thu, Oct 27, 2022 at 12:29 PM
> Subject: 6M CW
> To: CQ-Contest Reflector <cq-contest at contesting.com>
>
>
> I want to respond to something AB7E wrote. See "The only differences ..."
>
> Yes my HF transceiver may use some digital signal processing. But alleging
> that's no different from using FTx is *false equivalence*. It also smacks
> of what's known as "both sides do it."
>
> Paul, EI5DI, is right: "computer-to-computer" QSOs that remove the human
> element -- the operator -- from the equation suck the very lifeblood from
> our hobby.
>
> I'm waiting for someone to weigh in with the argument that "Often you can
> *hear* the signal that FTx is de-coding, you just can't copy it." This
> reminds me of "list operations" that began appearing in the late 1970s:
>
> "You are four by four."
> "Roger the five by five."
> "GOOD CONTACT!"
>
> cain K1TN