Nice opening to VK this morning from Atlanta after SR. Luke was equally strong on Hi Z 8 and Waller Flag at 95 ft.
73, John, W4NU Sent from my iPhone > On Apr 1, 2018, at 11:21 AM, Brian Pease <[email protected]> wrote: > > In my experience (sine 1957) casual CW DX contacts have nearly always been > RST, QTH, Name, and for a long QSO maybe Rig. A memory keyer can do most of > TX, and nowadays there are fairly good CW decoders. Not much different from > other digital modes. > It seems to me that most of the thrill of DX is when the DX first returns > your call. Soon you are ready to move on to another conquest. > Contacts between friends are an entirely different matter. > >> On 4/1/2018 9:20 AM, Jeff Blaine wrote: >> There is good and bad with the FT8. >> >> The good is that it is bringing guys into the HF DX realm who never got >> active in DX because for whatever reason they felt they did not have a good >> DX station. The bad is that the focus on RTTY (my favorite mode) has become >> less especially for DXpeditions in favor of the idea of FT8. The logic >> behind these varies with the guy - but I think after the excitement and >> shine of FT8 wears off, the net will be still more total participants in HF. >> That's got to be a good thing. >> >> I don't feel bad for the dxpedition community especially wanting to promote >> FT8 over RTTY. Working a RTTY pileup on the dxpedition end can result in >> pathetic rates and there has been no effort to promote a multi-slot skimmer >> type of software package that would make RTTY pileup into the high rate that >> is possible. Along comes FT8 with the promise to do just that in an >> upcoming package so I view the dxpedition guys moving to FT8 as a logical >> choice over RTTY simply because it will end up having a higher rate than >> what most RTTY runs end up being. I don't run FT8 at the moment but if a >> dxpedition is only running FT8 for the digital slot, I guess I will run it. >> The genie is out of the bottle there. >> >> It would certainly help if the ARRL especially had not homogenize the RTTY >> and all other digital modes into one for the purpose of the DXCC. Why not >> issue separate certificates for each popular mode and benefit from the fees >> that would bring to the ARRL? That would also make a lot of guys who have >> worked their life's for the RTTY DXCC count not feel as if the >> accomplishment is being diluted by FT8 and the other ether-modes. But the >> ARRL's decisions more and more defy logic so I suppose that's a topic for >> another day. >> >> But for contesting and rag chewing and DX, I'm in the camp as the other >> traditionalists are - the op on the end talking into the mic, slapping the >> paddle or typing to try to keep up with the RTTY feed is what a real QSO is >> about. FT8 does result in a technical QSO but I'm not sure where the >> sustained enjoyment in that mode is beyond making the contact. >> >> 73/jeff/ac0c >> alpha-charlie-zero-charlie >> www.ac0c.com >> >>> On 01-Apr-18 7:49 PM, Stan Stockton wrote: >>> Some questions in my mind. >>> >>> How important is RF in the evolution of amateur radio? Would those who >>> operate using FT8 be a lot less interested if it were just computers >>> linking them with others without transmitted RF? How about operator >>> involvement or skill? >>> >>> How important is it that hams retain 4 MHz of spectrum on 6m or other bands >>> if most everyone has abandoned CW and SSB? >>> >>> Is there some sense of achievement when there is so much headroom in power >>> alone that another 3 dB or even another 20 dB is so easy to achieve? >>> >>> About 50% of my enjoyment of the hobby is thinking, many hours of every >>> day, about how to somehow achieve another dB on some band or another with a >>> better antenna. After about 50 hours of modeling I am now drilling tubing >>> to make what I hope will be a great pair of tribanders to take to ZF9CW >>> location. One person's total waste of time is another's passion. >>> >>> To each his own, but for the long term future of what has provided so many >>> of us with a lifetime of enjoyment, woe is me. >>> >>> 73... Stan, K5GO >>> _________________ >>> Topband Reflector Archives - http://www.contesting.com/_topband >>> >> >> _________________ >> Topband Reflector Archives - http://www.contesting.com/_topband >> > > _________________ > Topband Reflector Archives - http://www.contesting.com/_topband _________________ Topband Reflector Archives - http://www.contesting.com/_topband
