This could be controversy, a contest winner, or the true spirit of ham radio where we experiment and see how far we can push the limits of technology. Either way, it was fun to play with, Be sure to join us next week where KM4ACK and I play with Build-A-Pi and Winlink!
Yes, yes, yes. As I had once predicted this is now with us: the epitome of Hamster Radio, Auto FT8. Where will these Hamsters take us in the future. Stick around kids to find out.
And of course, it's a podcast I won't watch. More offloading wasted time on the viewers rather than an actual text description of what the heck it is.
Yawn... WSJT-Z Mod by SQ9FVE has been around for quite some time now. Does auto CQ and also auto calling. Has a lot of filtering options so you can filter out what you are seeing in the decode window. A few other handy controls in the main panel as well.
Been around for a few years this is nothing new. Just someone that thinks they have developed something new. WSJT-Z Mod is better. And yes the mode is brainless. Full auto 20K contacts in a year.. Brainless...
It's great for padding your logs but you'll likely miss a lot of good DX when on auto. You'll pick up a lot of the more common DX but not so much the GOOD stuff. You'll have to be on your toes and put in some concentrated work or time for that even on FT8.
Thank you for saying this, it is true. FT-8 is absolutely not the same as CW or SSB, but automated FT-8 is almost embarrassingly irrelevant. Couldn't you just look at someone's logs and see that they are making a new FT-8 contact every 90 seconds for 48 consecutive hours? It might technically count towards awards, but so what? These awards are like grades in high school - they only let *you* know how well you are doing, cheating is kind of pointless. Let the cheaters feel important. Real hams know what is what. FT-8 is awesome, IMHO, but it is different from phone or any other more intimate mode. My $0.02
Please make concise short videos, 1 hour long video of downloading, installing and running a FT8 robot it's just boring
There is a case for semi-automated help with FT8: If you're a "rare" state, you can get pounded relentlessly, even be shamed into not sleeping so you can help your fellow hams get the last state they need for WAS. ...not to mention county-hunters.
Fair enough, but IMHO there is still a difference in the effort involved. I am certainly not wise enough to be responsible for drawing that line, but it exists. I have never had a single SSB contact. Not one. And in my own mind, I am not a ham, I am a beginner who has used FT-8 to learn a few things. Had I earned those awards with an automated script, I would be even less than nothing. I have nothing against WSJT-Z or other automated software, I just see it for what it is. A cool cheat. A hack. A work-around that proves that a person is clever enough to cheat themself. And that isn't so damn clever, IMHO.
I was going to reference a P-Utube video, but apparently it has been removed. Or hidden. Or something. Anyway, as I recall, the video was made by "Ham Radio Dude" - KM9G's cohort in this thread's video - and he was going to stop making P-Utube videos. Either he had a change of heart or is going to ride shotgun on others' videos. Odd. Here's that original thread and the removed/disappeared/hidden/whatever video:
It should run with Debian, but i didnt try. The AutoFT8 is an extension for the WSJT-X, which runs with Debian. But unfortunately not always stable. And the extension to that seems to be a Python script. Think about Youtube-dl, its just a multiplatform script too.
