Topband: FT8 - the end of 160m old school DXing? (mine is long, too)

[rich hurd WC3T]

I'm not a topbander except in spirit; haven't yet flown an antenna for
anything above 80 meters but this discussion is resonant, if you will,
across all bands.

I got into ham radio a couple years ago, about 50 years after I was exposed
to it.  Life got in the way in the meantime and at this point it was now or
never.    And I've never been happier.

Art KB3FJO brought up a good point about auditory/visual or kinesthetic
experience; I want to tender that most of the hams today also grew up with
a computer as a major component of their experience, whereas older hams may
not have.    So it's pretty much a given that they're going to integrate a
tool they know with a medium (radio communication) that's new to them.
Does that make what we do with CW or phone any less relevant?  I don't
think so.   It makes the digimode warriors more vocal when their ox is
gored, but otherwise what they do is ham radio as much as your garden
variety brass pounder.

I have my share of SSB contacts; I'm learning Morse code so I can be fluent
in the CW mode; and I have to say I have also my share of digital QSOs
(JT9/JT65, PSK, Olivia, and even a Throb QSO in the log.)   But not one
FT8; not because I can't, but because I choose not to (I'm not chasing
paper, I'm having fun, and rag chewing, and enjoying the hell out of this
hobby.)  And FT8 doesn't fit into that model for me.   For those
contemplating leaving the hobby, I'd counsel patience.   This thing is
bigger than all of us.

I want to draw a parallel with what I do for my day job;  and I ask pardon
for the digression but it might underscore what I'm talking about.   I am
the development manager for a large snack food company taking care of their
EDI interfaces.  For those who don't know, EDI is Electronic Data
Interchange.

Our customers are Wal-Mart, Target, McLane, etc. who can't send us paper
purchase orders because they'd bankrupt themselves buying paper.  They send
electronic transactions, which we receive, and we send them electronic
invoices, and they send us electronic deposits (kind of like Direct
Deposit, which is a form of EDI.)

We use a "format", a markup language if you will (really close to a
digimode), called X12.  It's been around at least since the 1950s and
300-baud acoustic modems.   Hang on, I'm getting to the point here.  :)

With the advent of the Internet, some companies began a race to another
kind of markup language called XML in the early 2000s.  Immediately all the
pundits cried out "X12 is dead, XML is the New Best Thing."   They all
predicted that the X12 dinosaur would die a quiet death.

Thirteen years later, XML is still a niche, X12 is as strong as ever, and
in an interview with a trade journal some years ago I opined, "X12 is not
dead; it doesn't even have a bad cold.   When you see companies like
Wal-Mart and Target throw out their investment in X12 and their running
systems, you can talk to me about the death of X12."

The point?    Ham radio lives.  Bill Cromwell, don't leave ham radio.   Ham
radio in all of its wonderful incarnations will be just as strong as
before, because there will be other hams who have the same great visions
and ideas that the rest of us have had.   Not all of them will want to
pursue the allure of the digital mode; there's still a waiting list to get
into the CWOps Academy; and SSB rigs are still being sold with a microphone
jack instead of a Line In interface.   The more hams pursue their
avocation, the stronger the hobby will be, now and in the future.

Now, it's time to put away the soapbox and get back to work.    Apologies
for the wandering.

---
72,
Rich Hurd / WC3T / DMR: 3142737
PA Army MARS, Northampton County RACES, EPA-ARRL Public Information Officer
for Scouting
Latitude: 40.761621 Longitude: -75.288988  (40°45.68' N 75°17.33' W) Grid:
*FN20is*



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