Topband: FT8

[Mike Waters]

Very well said indeed.

73, Mike
www.w0btu.com

On Oct 25, 2017 9:37 AM, "Tree" <tree at kkn.net> wrote:

> Great post Steve - you put into words a concern that I am sure many of us
> share.
>
> First off - as manager of this fine list - let's all be careful and not let
> the discussion get out of hand.  Respect other people's opinion.  This is a
> hot topic for sure and there is not going to be some kind of resolution
> here.  It is kind of a social experiment happening in real time.
>
> For me - the magic of radio happens between the headphones.  I can still
> remember hearing my first echo off the moon - on six meters.  I nearly fell
> out of my chair. Same thing when I found ZS8 CQing away on 160 meters when
> no other signals were being heard.
>
> From my perspective - there are two areas where the "tones" have taken over
> weak signal.  The first was mentioned already - 2 meter EME.  I have 80
> elements out in the bone pile - hoping to put it up some day - but I have
> to admit that the shift to using tones instead of CW has left me less
> motivated.
>
> The other area is the new 600 Meter band.  This small slice of noisy
> spectrum is predicted to be populated with tones for serious DX work
> instead of CW.  This might drive me to try it - or perhaps I will be there
> on CW - being a dinosaur.
>
> The comparison to RTTY is certainly a fair one - although the new tones are
> much better with weak signals.  RTTY contesting is the biggest growing
> segment by far.  It's only time now until the tones establish themselves
> there as well.
>
> However, any activity is good activity.  The fact we often can tune the
> band and see nothing on the bandscope except some tones is better than not
> seeing anything.  People who don't have good systems for 160 meters are now
> able to make some QSOs and even work a little DX.
>
> Probably the telling thing will be what the choices are by the major DX
> peditions.   If the only way to work a new country is with tones - that
> will either push me to adopt it - or go find something else to do with my
> time and energy.
>
> Tree N6TR
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