(A CW guy switches to FT8)
As much as I love CW, having used almost nothing else since 1972, I am finally going to make the call: time of death: July 4th, 2019.
That was the year when even old timers like me decided to give this special flavor of “digital” a try. To be fair, one reason people are now flocking to FT8 is because all the other CW ops are there. The CW segments are going dark. Outside of the “military” countries, no one cares any more.
It’s not like I never experimented with digital modes. I was there right at the beginning – in 2001, running PSK like the rest of you. But one of the things that always drove me up a wall with the “new” modes is that they could never quite reach critical mass. Sure, you could sit there and maybe do a worked all states eventually, but DXCC on PSK? Correct me if I am wrong, but I never heard of anyone who actually did that.
With each mode, by the time I had a few countries under my belt, everyone was moving on to something else. I really enjoyed Olivia, and I found a few guys running it I could have a QSO with. A few.
I took a stab at RTTY. It’s a great mode, but it’s age is showing. Terrible software. Way too many settings to fuss with, that no one understands any more.
Then came JT65. That was when digital went sour for me. Oddly enough, there were (and probably still are) more people using this than anything that came before it. But I just couldn’t take it. So S-L-O-W. It just didn’t appear to require human interaction at all. It seemed like I heard it everywhere, all through the CW segments. It was maddening. I went back to CW, and finished my 8B-DXCC.
But then – when I wasn’t looking, the culture (not the technology) changed.
Here’s the thing about FT8: everyone is actually using it! I mean, just this morning I got Greenland. Easily. No more waiting for contests, for everyone to turn on their radios. You can find good DX, 24 hours a day, without too much trouble.
Is it TOO easy? NO. That’s what I like best about FT8. If you want to work anything besides Texas, California and Florida, it really does require some skill. Like “listening” (oops – I mean watching. And waiting. As a matter of fact, I don’t listen to the audio at all any more.)
I imagine the old RTTY guys probably have an edge. Of course, those of us who operated CW at any kind of speed definitely have an advantage too. That’s because it’s all about timing! (Don’t forget: the first digital mode was CW!)
Stuff happens FAST in FT8. Even faster in FT4 of course. I need to juggle about eight things at once, every fifteen seconds. If you are used to CW pileups, you know about this already. A lot of the same rules apply, too – “never call on his transmit frequency,” “spread out…” etc. Sometimes I find myself accidentally working two stations at once – no problem, the protocol allows for that. Rare/DXpedition stations often use a trick that allows them to respond to four stations at once. No problem, since they are all within the same 3KHz audio envelope.
The best part of FT8 (and, to be fair, many other modern digital modes) is that I no longer need to wander up and down the band, listening to each station ID, to see who they are and whether I might want to work them. Now, when I fire up my rig, within seconds I have a display of everyone on the “band.” Thanks to JTAlert, no more looking them up one by one, to see if a KL7 is really in Alaska, or just moved to Texas.
It is important to remember that the primary “sub-band” for FT8 is technically only as large as a single voice conversation. So when the band is open I can see maybe thirty stations at a time without retuning. (Don’t forget that every other 15 seconds shows a different set of stations.)
One of the best and most surprising things to me is that there are so many rare ones on the air routinely. I am only talking in terms of “states and countries” (and what exactly is a country any more?!) Sure, you will see the usual characters from our (North American) neighborhood, especially central america and the caribbean… but in one morning this week, I snagged Greenland, Lichtenstein, and Mauritania, not to mention more than a few of the tougher states, including Alaska and Hawaii.
No humans involved?
No skill required?
Is this ham radio?
Well, all I can say is that there are guys out there (not me!) with nothing but a laptop, connecting to each other over the cables that make up the Internet – and calling that “ham radio.” Um, is it possible to have radio without RF?! Some think so. Not me.
What I mean is, FT8 is nothing like that. It absolutely is radio, bringing together all the best and most important skills that us crazy experimenters have been playing with for the last 100 years. Plus a computer. So? I say anyone who thinks they can do anything resembling ham radio without a computer in some form, probably hasn’t made a QSO for 20 years, and will be left out in the cold very soon.
You could actually make the case that this is a whole other hobby – and in my opinion, it is the perfect hobby for today’s hams, who usually have loads of experience with computers, networks and digital technology.
As I finally approach retirement, I think this is about my speed – turn on the radio, bring up the computer, check for correct time, make a few contacts on whatever band is open, or NOT. Longer term, I need to stay up to date with WSJTX, JTAlert, and my log. Most important – keeping a dedicated rig control computer running smoothly.
Here is my advice. Computers are cheap. Don’t try to play around with FT8 on the laptop that you use every day for work, or listening to music, or other everyday activities. There are just SO many settings that need to be right in order for FT8 to work, that you will find yourself spending hours hunting down what broke it. Dedicate a computer to your radio hobby. Run the FT8 software, maybe a logger, and a few other utilities like a time-sync service. Leave it at that! FT8 actually doen’t require a lot of horsepower. I am using a 5-year-old tiny desktop and I am happy as a clam with that.
Finally, please remember that this is a weak signal, low-power mode. 50 watts is more than enough – and more than that on your average barefoot rig will come close to damaging it. See you on 6 meters!