FT8 overflow frequency and PSK operators

You are 59, please copy Alpha Hotel. QRZ?

 

So??? They aren't compatible.

 

Who said they were?

Well, you know that there are 10 types of hams in the world.
Those who do digital, and those who don’t.

With reactions like this, I think I will stick to CW.

 

I think I'm starting to understand why so many feel threatened by FT8. The FT8 mode allows those with modest stations more opportunities to snag the "rare" ones without investing $50K or more in high powered amps and ridiculous tower structures and gigantic antennas.

FT8 is a weak signal mode and by that I mean weak signals can be worked. I do not mean that you must use low power as many incorrectly believe. So if you are using a modest station you have a much better chance in a DXpedition pileup using FT8 than you would have with SSB.

I should also mention that when a DXpedition is using the Fox/Hound mode they can filter out stations based on their signal strength. From the manual:

Remember that FT8 is a weak-signal mode. Contacts can be made reliably with signals well below the audible threshold. The Fox operator may explicitly decide to answer only calls with signal strength below some limit, for example S/N = –10 dB. In many cases you will not need and should not use an amplifier. It’s more important to find a calling frequency free of QRM.

That option gives a DXpedition the ability to ignore the high powered stations and work the small guys.

With the playing field a bit more leveled, those that have invested so much time and money in building super sized stations probably are starting to feel that their efforts have been wasted as the small stations ramp up the QSO and country counts. The result is intense hatred towards FT8.

Any of you amateur shrinks agree with my theory?

 

I think it's more about guys who miss the good-ol-days, when everybody did telegraphy, and SSB was an "exotic mode."

Some of them even remember far back enough when people were actually interested in talking to strangers.

But your theory may work, too.

 

Not really. It is more like ham radio turning into this:

If people like it then they do. I would rather use JS8CALL and at least have a minimal QSO.

 

Oh no, not even close -- the round-trip times in FT8 are waaaaaaaaaaaaaay bigger than that.

 

Did you log that contact?

 

Speaking of reactions....
Might see you on CW.
73

 

I'm a bit new at all this. But one concern I have, having just started playing with some of these other modes (lately, hellschreiber specifically).

I notice that Olivia, PSK, and RTTY, CW, etc. are rare / sporadic / conversational enough they can coexist pretty well. You see someone using some space in the band, you move, and find an empty spot.

But when FT8 moves in, it won't coexist at all. It'll just evict everyone else. What if the overflow is empty, but someone tunes there. There's an ongoing PSK QSO going on. Will the FT8 guy kindly make space for it to continue? Will 30 FT8ers do so?

Can a slowfeld QSO take up a lane of FT8 space and survive?