[SECC] Legitimacy of Digital Mode (FT8) Contacts (long-winded, but hey, it’s me!)

[Scott Straw]

NQ4I:
Rick, to the extent that I know you, I have to wonder if you’re truly stomping your foot or simply just “stirring the pot”.  Regardless, in these times I choose to look past the noise to the person and hope that even if I don’t like the sounds, I can still choose to like the source.  I hope you’re well and happy.  I look forward to someday shaking your hand again and hearing about your latest exploits.

WR4K:
Richard, welcome to the SEDXC. Now relax and chill.  Surely you’ve learned that we Ham Radio enthusiasts are a diverse universe of uniqueness.  If you’re looking for a “perfect” Ham Radio club, with more than just you as a member, you ain’t gonna find it.  On this reflector it is possible  that you’re going to hear people voice your thoughts better than you ever could and it could be that you’ll hear people who are as antithetically opposed to all you hold dear as can be possible.   So long as the conversations stay germane to DX-chasing, Contesting, and Ham Radio, and some common sense ethical rules are followed, we should rejoice that we have a free and open forum for expressing our ideas and thoughts.

With those preambles, here are my thoughts on digital Ham Radio contacts:

I am an avid FT8 enthusiast.  My wife and I have a regular debate regarding “is it a contact” often.  Her questions, “What did you talk about, where does he live, what does he do?” are often left unanswered (unless I’ve been sly enough to look up the new DX I just worked on QRZ and there is a bio posted).

Of course I try to be a contester as well. At the end of an event where I’ve recorded “599, K” “59, CA”, or similar over several hundred times, what have I learned from those stations that is different from an FT8 QSO?

If the term “computer-to-computer” is going to get tossed into the discussion of “what is a valid contact”, we contesters better all be ready to give up spot-aided CAT, “F-keys”, WinKeyers, Skimmers, and RBN aids for CW contests, RTTY contests are toast, and all those slick logging programs that alert us to needed multipliers etc. are history as well.

This is what I’ve learned:  my meager station with a Yaesu FT-450D “toy radio” and either a G5RV at 30’ (more or less) or a pair of 6M Ham sticks as a dipole in my walk-in attic, can send FT8 signals that can be successfully received in far-flung places like South Africa, South Korea, South Pole, South Dakota and even South Atlanta.  That fact still mystifies and astounds me to this day.

Of course I have had CW, SSB, RTTY, PSK-31, and JS8 conversations over the years with Hams around the world as well. I even talked to a Ham piloting a Gulfstream somewhere over mid-America enroute from Las Vegas to New Jersey, or something like that.  (His call was NQ4I/AM.)  The bulk of my log however is full of contest contacts with much less of an in-depth connection.

Does a PH contact with KH6 on Field Day using a 5-over-5 stacked 20M beam count for more or less than one made on my G5RV?  No, because a contact is a contact.  Is my 5BWAS or (soon-to-be) 5BDXCC not valid because I used FT8 for some of those contacts? No, because a contact is a contact.

I don’t have a tower, I don’t have an amp, I don’t have a SDR.  Am I whining?  No.  I’m happy to have what I do have and I’m glad I can play in the same pool with those that do... even if I need a computer to do it.

Constructive discussion on this forum is always good, private replies to “my call @ gmail” are welcome as well if you prefer.

Scott, KB4KBS
Roswell, Georgia USA
(EM74)
Sent from my iPhone6