Topband: The DXpedition FT8 quandary

[Steve Ireland]

G'day

FT-8 is so much less labour and operator skill-intensive than CW/SSB that it has a fatal attraction for DXpeditions - more people can be worked more easily and more quickly.

Added to this, "He who holds the gold makes the rules" and DXpeditions mostly hold the gold as we want to work them. 

So if increasing numbers of DXpeditions are intending to use FT-8 on 160m what can we CW/SSB ops do about it to turn this around? 

To start with, we can stop using FT-8 at all in our day-to-day 160m operation. The less stations there are on FT-8 on 160m the less temptation/likelihood there is of a DXpedition using FT-8 it - particularly if all the 160m stations with good transmit and receive antennas aren’t using it.

Perhaps even more important – and we come back to the gold metaphor - when you make a DXpedition donation – and please do so - clearly state you are interested in 160m CW/SSB and do not use FT-8.

Vy 73

Steve, VK6VZ

>They ain't gonna work me.? I'm with you.? Did the FT-8 last summer for around 400 Qs...that was quite enough.? If I don't make 200, 300 countries because I don't FT-8, so what?
KH7XS



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