Yet again the "give it to the computer" crowd shows their absolute ignorance of operating FT8. It is not unattended operating. One has to actively manage each contact. If you do not like the automation, just turn off auto-sequencing. You will be as busy as you ever have been making a contact. How can people pass these snarky comments around without knowledge of what they speak? Do you not get how un-informed this makes you look? Congrats on getting 100 QSOs. It is a good experiment that can be done on many modes. Tom NY4I
Great summary! FT8 is a wonderful mode. It's just 'not news' that you can work 100 countries in a week.
Agree......The timeframe is really irrelevant, it could be done in 24 hours with a big enough team.. DXpedition teams can crank thousands of FT8 QSOs in short timeframes, although the century award is not their focus. I think what bothering a lot of people is the (unintentional) rubbing of a DXCC Century award in their face gained solely on FT8 contacts. For complete transparency, I too have a mixed Century award mixed award gained on FT8 contacts. The difference is recognizing that my "award" really doesn't make me any type of DXCC 'veteran', it was just a step up the ladder; I am currently 50% of the way toward my phone century endorsement, and until I obtain both DXCC phone and CW endorsements I still consider myself a DXCC "noob".
The last SSB DX contest a few weeks back I operated for just 5 hours of 48. 75 Countries. Probably could have made at least 5 more going the full time. But FT8 is a killer app and fun in these times.
As an longtime Phone op I think making DXCC in phone or CW is more difficult. I have embraced FT8 for what it is and have become an operator of the mode. Those that think that you set it an forget it clearly have NEVER operated FT8 with such an uniformed statement. There is operator intervention required. If you don't like it don't use it. I find that it is a useful tool for propagation. I will be many times I go to Phone when I see certain trends on FT8 because in reality I find Phone much more interesting but I don't poo poo other modes because I don't use them. FT8 only ops are certainly missing out on a lot of things radio has to offer in my Humble opinion if there is such a thing. It is actually impressive to work them that fast. Maybe the detractors should show us their accomplishment if it so easy. Worked all states on 30 meters in week and got confirmations in about a month. It was done with 100% of the time in front of the station operating. There was nothing automatic about it. 73 de KC6FLG BTW I have encountered no shortage of 20 WPM extra class LIDS in my 32 years radio.
I totally agree with you Tom. The anti FT8 bias hams out there miss characterize the mode so they can hate on it. I've manually worked for every one of my 1000's of digital modes contacts going back to 2003 when I first discovered PSK31 and RTTY.
I ran a bit of the Russian DX Contest this past weekend on CW. A friend had previously introduced me to the Winkey+N1MM setup but I had only used it once before. It dawned on me how similar it is to FT8. I rarely had to touch the keyer paddle. So yeah, it wasn't me in the contest, it was my computer.
i started on Joe Taylor on JT9 i know how ft8 works and believe me i took plenty of naps. when i woke up the contact was finish so tell me how ft8 works please?
