I wrote an April Fool's article back in like 1999 (I might still be able to find it on dejanews) describing a make-believe ARRL contest which was totally automated; contesters could come home from work and peruse their logs to see what stations their computers had 'worked' that day. When parody becomes reality, it's no longer funny. I'm chagrined that that fictitious day appears to have finally arrived. FT8 is just a phase. It is the mode du jour, the next in a long parade of digital modes that stretches back to AMTOR and packet. This too, shall pass, to be replaced with the Next Big Mode, which in turn will pass and be replaced. In the meantime, there hasn't been a single CW signal in the morning on 40 meters so I can test out my new homebrew FD rig. It's very depressing. Al W6LX
From: Wayne Burdick <n...@elecraft.com> To: Elecraft Reflector <elecraft@mailman.qth.net> Cc: "k...@yahoogroups.com" <k...@yahoogroups.com>; elecraft...@yahoogroups.com Sent: Friday, June 1, 2018 8:47 AM Subject: [Elecraft] Boldly OT: 6 meter Sporadic-E season and the FT-8 microjuggernaut At first I thought it was my receiver. Or my antenna farm, limited in scale by a pre-nuptial clause. Or noise caused by the zomboid army of switching power supplies oozing inexorably into my personal space. Nope. It turns out the dearth of CW and SSB signals on 6 meters at the height of 2018 Spring Sporadic-E season can be traced to one factor: the 24-hour intravenous rave that is FT-8. Yeah, I get the whole sub-noise-floor-and-not-automated-(wink)-QSO thing. But I’d like to figure out how those of us who enjoy the occasional gear-grinding manual-transmission contact can find each other on this brave new highway. Ideas? Wayne N6KR ______________________________________________________________ Elecraft mailing list Home: http://mailman.qth.net/mailman/listinfo/elecraft Help: http://mailman.qth.net/mmfaq.htm Post: mailto:Elecraft@mailman.qth.net This list hosted by: http://www.qsl.net Please help support this email list: http://www.qsl.net/donate.html Message delivered to alor...@sbcglobal.net ______________________________________________________________ Elecraft mailing list Home: http://mailman.qth.net/mailman/listinfo/elecraft Help: http://mailman.qth.net/mmfaq.htm Post: mailto:Elecraft@mailman.qth.net This list hosted by: http://www.qsl.net Please help support this email list: http://www.qsl.net/donate.html Message delivered to arch...@mail-archive.com