Bravo Karel. . . . extremely well said! The DXCC award, once highly
sought after and coveted globally, has become basically irrelevant and
no longer held in the high esteem it once commanded. Our many pleas
with the League to restructure the award to align with today's
technology have been ignored, having fallen on deaf ears.
73. . . Dave, W0FLS
On 6/1/2026 10:02 PM, Karel via Topband wrote:
The technical advantages of FT8/FT4 operation are indisputable, and it
is not the intention here to deny them.
The problem that needs to be pointed out, however, is not a technical
one but a systemic one—and its core is DXCC.
Devaluation of DXCC – blurring the differences between fundamentally
different types of contacts
FT8 is capable of decoding signals deep below the noise floor, in a
region where the human ear is physiologically unable to distinguish CW
or SSB signals.
No matter how hard I try, I simply cannot hear a CW signal at the same
level that FT8 can still decode without difficulty.
This leads to a fundamental consequence:
DX contacts on FT8 are significantly easier to achieve than on CW or
SSB,often without any audible signal.In order to be able to use an
equally weak signal on CW or SSB, I must at a minimum:
build special receiving antennas,use low-noise preamplifiers,deal with
directivity, interference, and phasing,and have a brain trained by
many years of DX operation to perceive and decode such weak
signals.Yet such a CW/SSB contact has the same DXCC value as an FT8
contact that was achieved solely thanks to an algorithm capable of
working below the noise level.
As a result, two fundamentally different categories of how a QSO was
made are being mixed together:
human audibility, technical preparation, and operator skill, versus
machine decoding of a signal below the noise floor.DXCC has thus
thrown pears and apples into the same bag.
Impact on DXpeditions and marginal bands
Practice in recent years shows that many DXpeditions:
start operating exclusively on FT8, often with provisional
antennas,while final antenna systems are still being built,postpone
CW/SSB until the very end of the expedition—or never get to it at
all.On the 160 m and 6 m bands, this leads to situations where some
new or rare entities are available only on FT modes,
which effectively excludes CW/SSB operators from the chance to “fight
for” the contact.
Automation instead of the operator
It also cannot be overlooked that FT8 allows:
long-term unattended operation,sometimes even controlled by
scripts,where the operator merely downloads the log afterward.Such a
contact nevertheless has the same DXCC value as a contact that is
based on:
antenna construction,working with propagation,the active presence and
decision-making of the operator.Conclusion
The problem with FT8/FT4 is not their existence, but the fact that:
DXCC does not distinguish fundamentally different principles of making
a contact,there is no separate category for FT8/FT4,which devalues the
technical and operational demands of classic modes.
This is not a fight against progress, nor nostalgia.
It is an effort to preserve fairness, motivation, and the meaning of
amateur radio DX operation, especially on the marginal bands.
Karel OK1CF
____________________________________________________________
Od: "Mike Fatchett W0MU" Komu: [email protected]
Datum: 2. 6. 2026 2:16
Předmět: Re: Topband: 160m Today - Some additional musings....about
the old days
How would you know how much skill is required if you don't work the
mode. There is plenty of skill involved. You just don't turn on the
rig and work like it was nothing. The FT bashing is kinda like the
hate for Trump. Tons of people use it and enjoy it and it has allowed
many to work dx or even work ham radio when they could not before.
Can we please stop the bashing? It does not help the hobby and FT
modes arguably might actually save the hobby.
W0MU
On 6/1/2026 4:16 PM, Mike Smith VE9AA via Topband wrote:
I "probably" won't work any more new ones on 160m, nor 6m.
At one time I was neck and neck (or trailing slightly behind) with
guys like
VE1YX and VE1ZZ(sk) on 6m DXCC totals in VE.
I think I was #3 or #4 to get 100 DXCC's on 6m here in VE, but never
applied. I would literally leave my 6m rig on for weeks on end,
endlessly
scanning or keyer calling CQ, sometimes for hours. I picked up a
handful of
super rare DX's this way. I had rigs in all my cars, cottage, work
QTH's,
parents place so when visiting, could put the rig on, motorcycle,
you-name-it. I even have worked or heard a few rare stns mobile. Very
exciting~! Those days are dust. Gone forever. Only memories remain.
I know what I have (148 now on 6m but when FT8 hit the scene all
those
rare DX stns went away. I won't "cheapen" my 6/160 DXCC totals with
computer modes that take little in the way of real skill. (I hear
that there
are actually guys employing robot programs so they can leave their
rigs on
all night and check in the morning to see what they've worked on 6/160)
Yawn! Where's the pride in that?
The story is very much the same here on 160m. I never ran huge
antennas nor
power, but was very active in the 1990's into the 2000's and managed to
scrape together 200 DXCC's with what I have and other than to pick up
a few
mults in CQWW CW (etc. ) I don't ever get on Topband anymore. Why
would I ?
99% of everyone is parked on FT8. Like watching paint dry.
Oh, and I put on several rare DXCC's in the area so OTHERS would be
able to
work a new one. I will never be a FT8 op.
I hope things change, but I don't see it.
dit dit guys
Mike VE9AA
Mike - Keswick Ridge, NB, Canada
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