Quoting myself in part from an email to my DX club reflector re: FT8
"I think I will set a personal standard, at least for awards purposes, that 1) I will be at the controls of the station. 2) I won't count any QSO that couldn't have been copied on CW. 3) I won't count any QSO that requires the software to have prior knowledge of the two station calls or could not be copied by an uninterested third party.
I'm sure there will be critics who declare that I'm an old fogy who is longing for the return of spark. Nothing could be further from the truth. I have worked on the cutting edge of new technologies for years. But, I also believe that there should be some value added by way of operator skill."
Since that time I'm adding 4) If JTAlert pops up with a text message from my QSO partner wherein he tells me what he's copied and what I should send next, I will not complete the QSO.
Wes N7WS On 3/3/2018 4:57 PM, William Levy wrote:
As an old dog I am sorry to see that FT8 has become all the rage. I grew up with a few vacuum tubes and a dipole. AM carrier controlled, 5 tube receivers. Loved CW when I had very little. Love SSB with big antennas and towers. FT8 changes the game. No more rag chews. So this is what DX has become. No big power, no big antennas. Someone will write an app that will tell the radio to keep calling cq and log contacts. V.2 of the App will record new prefixes and club log it. I may feel critical as I write this but the future is not mine and all is fair in love and war. Sincerely, Bill N2WL
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