[VHFcontesting] WSJT/JT6M Need to become tools, not a novelty

[Les Rayburn]

I continue to be amazed with the WSJT software, and it's various modes. Today's contact with K4SIX in Mississippi on JT6M netted my 26th grid worked on 2 Meters since starting my quest just a few months ago. 

While the mode has been widely adopted by EME and Meteor Scatter camps, it continues to see only limited use among traditional weak signal operators. The mystery to me is "why?" Last night, I was able to work my 25th grid. It was a very special contact for me, as it was made with David, WB4JGG in my hometown of Cleveland, TN. 

We worked via SSB on 2M, with David reporting my signal being 5/2. Not surprising considering the small indoor antenna. We moved to 432, where he was much louder here, but unable to copy all the information required for a complete exchange. He managed my callsign, but not the grid square. I switched to CW, but the band faded more. After 15 minutes of trying without success, we switched back to 2M, and exchanged 73's. 

No doubt we'll be able to complete the 432 QSO at some point, and hopefully 222 & 6 as well. David's a sharp operator, and has a nice station. But I couldn't help but think that the QSO would have been completed using JT6M. Unfortunately, it remains more of a novelty than an everyday tool.  

I think it's also important to note that the entire QSO was "arranged" via the 144mhz Propagation Logger. I saw David's posting attempting to work an EN station, and asked if he'd like to try to work a hometown boy living in EM63. He replied on the reflector, and we arranged to attempt the QSO on 144.210. 

When we moved to 432, we'd been talking for several minutes. He clearly knew my name, grid square, high school graduating class, etc. It would have been easy for him to say that he'd copied my grid square and put the 432 contact in the books. But he didn't copy it...and he said so. Ethics aren't about technology. They aren't unique to CW ops, or SSB ops. David clearly has ethics...and his use of the Internet reflector didn't change that. 

I've been a ham for almost 40 years, and find myself longing for the "good ole days". By that, I mean the days when hams prided themselves on using the latest technology, on mastering new techniques, and embracing new ideas. Even among that group, the VHF/UHF crowd always seemed to be the "best of the best". 

Where did this attitude come from that WSJT and similar modes were somehow "cheating", or "automated QSO's" that required no skill? That using the Internet to arrange for QSO attempts made them somehow less valid? 

The simple truth is that the WSJT software represents progress. In terms of weak signals modes, it's clearly an improvement over the performance of both phone and CW. If you'd been able to introduce this technology in the 1960's amateur radio world, I think it would have been immediately embraced and ran with. Instead, we seem more concerned about our traditions than our future. 

Buying a bigger amplifier and putting up more aluminum doesn't require a lot of skill. And people who have wanted to cheat on contests or contacts were doing so long before the Internet came along. 

If you spend any time on the terrestrial JT6M chat room, you'll discover almost all the ops are talking about using the mode on HF. That's a shame considering that the program was pioneered for the weak signal VHF/UHF crowd. 

Pardon the soapbox from the new guy. I don't have a lot of experience on these bands, but I do know a better mousetrap when I see one. And the last time I checked, being a VHF man was about pushing the boundaries of performance. If I was interested in bigger beams, and amplifiers I could find that on 20 Meters. What's next? Wide band audio? Or maybe we should all occupy the calling frequencies to discuss our health problems. 

Hope to see more of us on FSK441/JT6M. 

73,

Les Rayburn, N1LF
EM63nf




Les Rayburn, director
High Noon Film
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