Topband: FT8 - the end of 160m old school DXing?

[Peter Sundberg]

Jay, please don't compare the new digi protocols 
with RTTY, a character based protocol.

What you see on the screen or paper in RTTY has 
actually been sent, and is received as it was 
sent. Or it is garbled because the link is not good enough.

With some of the new popular digi protocols most 
of what is written on the screen, some call it 
"received", has never been received as a complete 
message. It is reproduced from other sources than the radio path.

As a well known 6m op said after summing up his 
Zero to DXCC journey this last summer - "without 
entering already known information (calls) to the 
software I wouldn't have been even close to where I am now.."

BIG difference - no wonder the users of new digi 
protocols apply for a DXCC award after a week. Try that with RTTY.

73
Peter SM2CEW


At 13:38 2017-10-25, JAYB1943 at OPTONLINE.NET wrote:
>I guess I don’t understand what makes the new 
>Digital modes any different from old RTTY...the 
>“sounds” are similar enuf to learn to love 
>and the words are still displayed on (in the old 
>days) paper or a screen. There are many 
>audibly-compromised hams out there ­ such as me 
>â– who really welcome a mode that doesn’t 
>require sharp hearing to work CW or especially 
>SSB. In addition, I have recruited several new 
>(young) hams by attracting them with the 
>computer-based modes...all but eliminates 
>“mike-fright” and “key-freezing”. I 
>guess a lot of old-timers (I am 75) feel that 
>the awards like DXCC and WAS, etc. earned with 
>FT8 have less merit than they did with good-old 
>CW or Phone or RTTY.  But few people objected 
>when CW filters were invented or SSB replaced AM 
>or smaller, lighter, more efficient radios 
>replaced the old tube stuff...so is a CW DXCC 
>earned in 1948 somehow worth more than one 
>earned in 2000 using these major tech 
>improvements ? There will always be a place for 
>CW and voice modes in ham radio for those that 
>want to practice those..and remember one of the 
>major facets of ham radio is to “advance the 
>state of the radio art” which surely describes 
>the new digital modes. Room for everybody out 
>there, guys....73 Jay NY2NY _________________ 
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