Topband: FT8 clutter on the DX Cluster

[Jim Brown]

On 5/13/2020 7:51 AM, Henk PA5KT via Topband wrote:
> That is because for some people it can be useful information if they 
> want to make contacts.

Yes. Cluster and RBN spots can be quite useful for showing propagation. 
WSJT-X can be set to automatically post every decode to PSKReporter. 
Anyone can view propagation on a map for various time periods from 15 
min to a day or two, looking for ANY signal, for a given mode, and for 
any callsign, including his own or a DX station. I can call CQ on 160 
FT8 and see where I am being decoded.

In the first 3-4 years after moving to W6 in 2006, I worked a dozen or 
so EU countries, all CW. I've heard only 6 EU stations on CW, all during 
contests, and worked only two of them, even though I have the same RX 
antennas and better TX antennas. The difference is noise, on both ends 
of the QSO. Since FT8 can work 10 dB deeper into the noise than CW, this 
has allowed me to add about 15 new countries in EU that I can't even 
hear on CW.

73, Jim K9YC