On 7/16/2021 11:33 PM, Derek Turner via wsjt-devel wrote:
Is it just coincidental that of the 33 log records only two contain Maidenhead locators.
Nope. I've probably worked close a hundred JAs, and I count count the ones who call with their grid without taking my shoes off. But JA hams are not alone -- I often get called with the signal report, and several FT8 programs allow this to chosen as an option for when we click on a CQ or when our CQ is answered. I mostly use JTDX for FT8, because it fairly often catches weak signals that WSJT-X misses, but I have lots of experience with both. And both of them have that capability.
Remember -- except for the Stew Perry 160M contest and the RTTY Makrothan, grids were entirely a VHF thing, and before WSJT modes, intercontinental DX on 6M was pretty much limited to CW, and we were thrilled to work across ANY ocean, and cared little about anything but DXCC entities or US/VE states/provinces.
And why do JAs en mass ignore locators which are fundamental in FT8 exchanges for the rest of us ?
Your guess is as good as mine, but at least they've gotten much better over the 2-3 years we've had substantial JA runs. I now have 28 JA grids confirmed. 2-3 years ago, VERY few JAs listed their grid on qrz.com, and if they used LOTW, VERY few included their grid. This season, a strong majority of LOTW confirmations DO include their grid.
I'm a serious HF contester, QTH 70 miles S of San Francisco, 5 miles from the Pacific, and like all CA contesters, I work a TON of JAs, and I get a TON of cards, all through the Bureau. Not long after moving here in 2006 from Chicago, a local contester hipped me to the fact that there's an award to JA hams for the QUANTITY of cards they receive. There are stations who, if I work them seven times during a contest, I'll get seven cards! At that point, I stopped responding to JA cards. It's sort of the ham radio equivalent of the business card to JA businessmen.
73, Jim K9YC _______________________________________________ wsjt-devel mailing list wsjt-devel@lists.sourceforge.net https://lists.sourceforge.net/lists/listinfo/wsjt-devel
