Topband: FT-8 Contest would be great for Topband

[Wes]

I guess that I'm not among the many. I'm 78 and have been a ham for almost 62 of 
them.  I took up Satellite work at age 35, EME at 38, RTTY at 68 and I can't 
live without my SDR panadapter.

By coincidence I got a handful of QSLs from the bureau today.  One was from 
JH7OHS for a 432 EME JT65B QSO.  This is astounding; these digital modes are 
great.  I've made FT-8 QSOs when I wasn't even in the shack and now I have an 
EME QSO when I've never been on 432 in my life.

Wes  N7WS


On 1/10/2020 10:02 PM, Dave AA6YQ wrote:
> + AA6YQ comments below
>
> It would seem that the new digital modes have re-invigorated ham radio, at least activity wise. But if ham radio is so fragile that it cannot sustain in the face of interest in a new mode, maybe it deserves to die. I personally don't think it will, it is and has always been a big tent...73, Kevin K3OX
>
> + If CW, AM, SSB, transistors, integrated circuits, VHF repeaters, packet clusters, CW decoders, soundcard RTTY applications, soundcard PSK applications, panoramic reception, and software-defined radios haven't managed to kill amateur radio, I doubt that FT4 or FT8 will succeed.
>
> + It's been my experience that many ops consider the technology they were using up through age 35 to be "standard". Any technology that appears after they reach that age will be considered a  mortal threat to amateur radio.
>
>          73,
>
>                  Dave, AA6YQ
>
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