Topband: DXwars over the years

[kolson at rcn.com]

I was licensed long enough ago that I have seen a ton of changes in Ham Radio, all of which were purported to make Ham Radio  "easy " and make the previous generation of Hams feel that their accomplishments were somehow being devalued. Here are a few... 

ARRL DX contest ending Quotas: "We could only work three stations from a country, now you just sit on a frequency and call CQ, where's the skill in that?" 

When I passed my license test, I was told "Yeah, well when WE were licensed, the was none of this multiple guess stuff, we had essay questions and drew schematics" 

As commercial radio gear became more available: "Appliance Ope rator s! W e had to build our own" 

The advent of electronic keyers: "It takes skill to send CW with a straight key or bug (true dat...), now the keyer does the work" 

SSB replacing AM; "Anyone can work DXCC on SSB" 

QSL Bureaus: "you just send your cards to some dude in Pennsylvania/ Newington" 

The ascension of DXpeditions: "They tell you when, what frequency and what call, it's  like shooting fi sh in a barrel" 

The advent of computers. DX Cluster: "More fish in a barrel", Contesting so ftware: "T hese guys don't even know what a crosscheck sheet is!" Rtty software: "Nowadays, you just hook a computer to your radio, t ry keeping a Teletype machine up and running" 

CW requirement ended:  "I hear they are going to put Ham Licenses in Cracker Jack boxes" 

LOTW: "like QSL bureaus but without QSL's" 

Not to mention the Transceiver (and the once unusual but now c om mo n inclusion of 160 meters which I am sure many OT's saw as the ruination of Top Band at the time ) , Desktop Linears, DX nets, Rig/Antenna/Rotor control software, D XCC record software etc. 

All this stuff that made Ham Radio so much easier happened in my lifetime and as a result, it onl y took me about 47 years to eek my way onto the bottom of the Mixed DXCC Honor roll :) 

So regarding reactions to FT8 , I think " 'twas always thus". Interestingly, from the standpoint of a US Ham, the vast majority of FT8 QSO's are US/ NA to US/NA or US/NA to common DXCC entit ies where the noise floor advantage of FT8 doesn't generally matter. I suspect that FT8 is just the "new mode on the block" and an alternative to SSB for the op uninterested in or unable to operate  CW. I really don't think there are that many H ams who look at FT8 as their opportunity to swell the ranks of the Honor Roll... 

73 Kevin K3OX