Re: [Elecraft] FT8 - was "On Second Thought, I'll Take The Stairs"

2020-07-16 Thread Jim Rhodes
Sure wish I could put up such a "no antenna" antenna from my apartment where the noise level is often 20 or more dB over S9. Working any DX on even FT8 is a real rare occurence from here where I have a mobile antenna working against an iron railing on my second floor balcony. On Thu, Jul 16,

[Elecraft] FT8 - was "On Second Thought, I'll Take The Stairs"

2020-07-16 Thread Paul Christensen
>"And I have one that says "RTTY" but it's now a Digital DXCC. I had to resort to FT8 to work Monaco to get on the Digital Honor Roll, with the other 330 having been on RTTY." Just to quickly add my input before the topic is canned. I'm not enamored with FT8 but just for grins, I conducted an

Re: [Elecraft] FT8 - was "On Second Thought, I'll Take The Stairs"

2020-07-13 Thread Robert Hand
I still say, “appliance operator “ Sent from my iPhone > On Jul 13, 2020, at 3:36 PM, Victor Rosenthal 4X6GP > wrote: > > I didn't notice myself "denigrating" anything or "talking down" to anyone. I > explained why I like CW, even though other modes have their own advantages. > > Regarding

Re: [Elecraft] FT8 - was "On Second Thought, I'll Take The Stairs"

2020-07-13 Thread Victor Rosenthal 4X6GP
I didn't notice myself "denigrating" anything or "talking down" to anyone. I explained why I like CW, even though other modes have their own advantages. Regarding "increasing knowledge" and "innovating," I suspect that 90% of the guys pointing and clicking their way to DXCC with K1JT's code

Re: [Elecraft] FT8 - was "On Second Thought, I'll Take The Stairs"

2020-07-13 Thread Jim Rhodes
Connecting to history and making history are not the same thing. Doing things the same way they were done a hundred years ago may make a "connection" for you. But hams are supposed to innovate, invent and increase the knowledge. So you buy or build equipment with way more ability than to send

Re: [Elecraft] FT8 - was "On Second Thought, I'll Take The Stairs"

2020-07-13 Thread David Gilbert
Oh give me a break.  On any given day or night the CW frequencies are dead as a wombat except for FT8. And I never proposed "saving" CW anyway.  Just the opposite ... I proposed modifying FT8 so that it had the flexibility of CW. Dave  AB7E On 7/13/2020 7:57 AM, Drew AF2Z wrote:

Re: [Elecraft] FT8 - was "On Second Thought, I'll Take The Stairs"

2020-07-13 Thread Rick Bates, NK7I
Just as one can go from an electric or petroleum powered vehicle back to cart and horse (the common factor being wheels), doesn't mean that the history to get from there to here must be ignored (or honored). It doesn't matter the mode, ties into history will still exist and can be honored (or

Re: [Elecraft] FT8 - was "On Second Thought, I'll Take The Stairs"

2020-07-13 Thread Grant Youngman
That’s definitely true. Although I do have a gripe (is it FT4?) with the software that has arbitrarily plopped its users down in what was just a few months ago the home of mostly CW QRP activity on some bands. There does seem to be a need for coordination. Of course, I’m also old enough to

Re: [Elecraft] FT8 - was "On Second Thought, I'll Take The Stairs"

2020-07-13 Thread Lyn Norstad
@mailman.qth.net Subject: Re: [Elecraft] FT8 - was "On Second Thought, I'll Take The Stairs" Please- *nobody* is asking JT to save CW by giving us an extra 6-8 dB SNR. I hope that is not the next Goldilocks mode in the pipeline. I assume proponents of such a cobbled up "user interf

Re: [Elecraft] FT8 - was "On Second Thought, I'll Take The Stairs"

2020-07-13 Thread Drew AF2Z
FT8 - was "On Second Thought, I'll Take The Stairs" Well, the fact is that the coding and processing behind modes like FT8 doesn't have to be as rigid as is implemented in WSJT-X.  It only requires that information be sent and received in time frames, and those time frames are simply

Re: [Elecraft] FT8 - was "On Second Thought, I'll Take The Stairs"

2020-07-13 Thread Lyn Norstad
e normally at very low power levels. 73 Lyn, W0LEN -Original Message- From: David Gilbert [mailto:ab7e...@gmail.com] Sent: Sunday, July 12, 2020 8:57 PM To: l...@lnainc.com; elecraft@mailman.qth.net Subject: Re: [Elecraft] FT8 - was "On Second Thought, I'll Take The Stairs"

Re: [Elecraft] FT8 - was "On Second Thought, I'll Take The Stairs"

2020-07-13 Thread Nate Bargmann
* On 2020 13 Jul 02:47 -0500, David Gilbert wrote: > > No, those other posts didn't say that. Perhaps not directly. Preferences can always be strongly implied. I think it is inarguable that years back ARRL publications had a bias toward antennas that favored DX. DX is fine and perhaps that

Re: [Elecraft] FT8 - was "On Second Thought, I'll Take The Stairs"

2020-07-13 Thread Jim Brown
Two great posts, Dave. Thanks! 73 Jim K9YC On 7/13/2020 12:59 AM, David Gilbert wrote: Fine, but that demarcation is pretty arbitrary.  You could just as easily go back to tube gear with crystal controlled transmitters and regenerative receivers., but I'd be a lot of money you don't.  The

Re: [Elecraft] FT8 - was "On Second Thought, I'll Take The Stairs"

2020-07-13 Thread Victor Rosenthal 4X6GP
Actually, I'm building a regenerative receiver now. I have to use JFETs because I got rid of all my tube stuff due to lack of room. But of course I will continue to benefit from the DSP in my K3, and its keyer (although I have a bug that I use once in a while). But those things don't take

Re: [Elecraft] FT8 - was "On Second Thought, I'll Take The Stairs"

2020-07-13 Thread Nr4c
I believe that half of US hams are Technician Class, so mostly VHF/UHF FM operators. Not a lot of DX or contesting there. Sent from my iPhone ...nr4c. bill > On Jul 13, 2020, at 4:03 AM, David Gilbert wrote: > >  > Fine, but that demarcation is pretty arbitrary. You could just as easily

Re: [Elecraft] FT8 - was "On Second Thought, I'll Take The Stairs"

2020-07-13 Thread David Gilbert
Fine, but that demarcation is pretty arbitrary.  You could just as easily go back to tube gear with crystal controlled transmitters and regenerative receivers., but I'd be a lot of money you don't.  The gear you operate compares little in form, fit or function to anything those folks used

Re: [Elecraft] FT8 - was "On Second Thought, I'll Take The Stairs"

2020-07-13 Thread David Gilbert
No, those other posts didn't say that. I don't know why some hams insist on fabricating controversy where there is none.  It seems like the bulk of our American society is determined to be as tribal as possible.  Sorry times we live in. Dave   AB7E On 7/12/2020 9:09 PM, Lynn W. Taylor,

Re: [Elecraft] FT8 - was "On Second Thought, I'll Take The Stairs"

2020-07-13 Thread Victor Rosenthal 4X6GP
For me, it's simple. When I make a CW contact, even if its total content is "ENN TU", I am connected to history, to Jack Phillips on the Titanic, to all of the military traffic men and airborne radio operators of WWII, to the operators on the merchant ships on the high seas and the Great

Re: [Elecraft] FT8 - was "On Second Thought, I'll Take The Stairs"

2020-07-12 Thread Lynn W. Taylor, WB6UUT
: elecraft-boun...@mailman.qth.net [mailto:elecraft-boun...@mailman.qth.net] On Behalf Of David Gilbert Sent: Sunday, July 12, 2020 7:40 PM To: elecraft@mailman.qth.net Subject: [Elecraft] FT8 - was "On Second Thought, I'll Take The Stairs" Well, the fact is that the coding and processing be

Re: [Elecraft] FT8 - was "On Second Thought, I'll Take The Stairs"

2020-07-12 Thread David Gilbert
First of all, there is no comparison between the cost of what you just described and the cost of the software required to provide what I hypothesized.  Secondly, what I hypothesized would stack on top of what you described without conflict. So I'm afraid I really don't understand the point

Re: [Elecraft] FT8 - was "On Second Thought, I'll Take The Stairs"

2020-07-12 Thread WILLIE BABER
There is a way to improve the signal to noise of the CW signal.  It is called the yagi or beam antenna. The tower, guy system, beam, feedline, connectors, and switching, all have considerable appeal for some of us, the same as a good paddle, or a K3 radio. My four towers and yagis were built by

Re: [Elecraft] FT8 - was "On Second Thought, I'll Take The Stairs"

2020-07-12 Thread Wayne Burdick
> On Jul 12, 2020, at 6:57 PM, David Gilbert wrote: > > Think of it this way ... CW works fine as both a contest mode, DXing mode, > and conversational mode. Underlaying CW with a well configured digital > signal processing scheme like that which is under FT8, except with a > different

Re: [Elecraft] FT8 - was "On Second Thought, I'll Take The Stairs"

2020-07-12 Thread David Gilbert
, W0LEN -Original Message- From: elecraft-boun...@mailman.qth.net [mailto:elecraft-boun...@mailman.qth.net] On Behalf Of David Gilbert Sent: Sunday, July 12, 2020 7:40 PM To: elecraft@mailman.qth.net Subject: [Elecraft] FT8 - was "On Second Thought, I'll Take The Stairs" Well

Re: [Elecraft] FT8 - was "On Second Thought, I'll Take The Stairs"

2020-07-12 Thread Lynn W. Taylor, WB6UUT
. http://js8call.com/ 73 Lyn, W0LEN -Original Message- From: elecraft-boun...@mailman.qth.net [mailto:elecraft-boun...@mailman.qth.net] On Behalf Of David Gilbert Sent: Sunday, July 12, 2020 7:40 PM To: elecraft@mailman.qth.net Subject: [Elecraft] FT8 - was "On Second Thought, I'll

Re: [Elecraft] FT8 - was "On Second Thought, I'll Take The Stairs"

2020-07-12 Thread Lyn Norstad
since day one. http://js8call.com/ 73 Lyn, W0LEN -Original Message- From: elecraft-boun...@mailman.qth.net [mailto:elecraft-boun...@mailman.qth.net] On Behalf Of David Gilbert Sent: Sunday, July 12, 2020 7:40 PM To: elecraft@mailman.qth.net Subject: [Elecraft] FT8 - was "On Second Th

[Elecraft] FT8 - was "On Second Thought, I'll Take The Stairs"

2020-07-12 Thread David Gilbert
Well, the fact is that the coding and processing behind modes like FT8 doesn't have to be as rigid as is implemented in WSJT-X.  It only requires that information be sent and received in time frames, and those time frames are simply a function of three variables ... bandwidth, rate, and