Goodbye FT8, Hello Olivia, The MAGIC Digital Mode For HF!

Try it sometime. It's harder than you think to work DX successfully with FT8. It doesn't handle pileups well at all, and everyone is after the same DX you are. So, you have to try to work "split", and hope that you can get an answer before propagation fades. A lot of these are 5, maybe 10 minute greyline windows. I have maybe 30 or so new DX entities from FT8 since it came out in RC1, but I don't get to operate nearly as much as I would like.

Have people gotten WAS with FT8 since it came out? Absolutely, but in that same amount of time I bet many more WAS certificates were given out for Phone with people using Old Miss and other WAS Nets that go on every single night.

Have people gotten DXCC from FT8 since it came out? Yes, I've seen a couple. But it's not nearly as common as you think. And, I'll promise you I'll work more DX entities this weekend doing the CQ WW DX phone contest for a few hours than I will in a month of chasing DX on FT8.

I enjoy the challenge. And yes, it is as much a challenge as looking at a spotting network to see who is on what frequency and saying your callsign over and over again hoping to break through the pileup.

 

Way to slow, rtty or psk31 is much better, as far as the computer, it does most digital modes...to get away from the computer and do amateur radio USE CW

 

To each their own.

 

KN3A said:
Olivia is so 2004.

KK5JY replied:
Ham radio is so 1914.

I agree...

Wars were won by people who learned to read from McGuffey's Readers.

CW was in use decades before Ham Radio and it has proved its worth. There's no fake history there, either.

 

WSPR is not intended to be a communication /QSO mode. It is a 'beacon' mode. A beacon station is one that helps other stations or groups determine the propagation conditions in near real time on any particular band by transmitting an identifiable signal either continuously or periodically. After a number of stations have 'cycled through' you can have a pretty good idea of propagation conditions on that band. Information sent is always the station call sign and grid square and usually power output. Most of the WSPR beacon stations that have an internet connection also report who they are hearing when they are not transmitting and the approximate SNR to a central WSPR.net server. You can go to that site and it can draw a map for you showing who is hearing whom on each band.

There are also beacon stations using CW rather than one of the other digital modes like WSPR. Sometimes they also change power output levels during the course of their transmissions in a prescribed manor so that listening stations can get an even better idea of just how good the propagation is.

Amateur radio is like a diamond. It has many facets and we get to choose which we are interested in.
Dave K3GAU

 

FT8 has really helped me towards my 160 meter WAS goal. I received my digital WAS award last week with endorsements for FT8, JT65, JT9, and PSK31.

 

I'm closing in on 6 band WAS with digital

 

Yup.. if I make a valid QSO with another station, regardless of mode, it counts towards an award. Of course I know the other computer is there, how else would the mode be working? I don't know 1 person who can copy FT8 or PSK31 in their head. Other than Phone and CW I have to use a computer so those are really the only 2 "squat-less" modes I can think of right off hand. I guess "you're 599 in XX" is squat.. wait, I used VOX! It was a squat-less! I'll apply for my WAS award, Worked All Squat!

 

Made my first Olivia QSO in March of 2006!

 

People have built inexpensive GPS-driven NTP servers with Raspberry Pi's.

 

Boy ! And you tought the Russian woodpecker was annoyin ?

 

Every time a new mode comes out an old mode is never used again. This has been a fact for many years. Olivia is the best mode for communication between operators. I used it many times and even when no trace was present on the waterfall it decoded. Here is to people trying it again. 73 Fred N9GUE

 

"That's just mean, man!" James Coburn, Payback

 

I don't have time to comment. there's too many FT8 contacts to make.

 

For chasing DX and to have new country in the log, FT-8 is incomparable to any other digi mode available yet. But for practical use, during emergency communication, Ft-8 is of no use. Olivia serves better in such situation. So I do not think they are competing each other and both have their virtues and limitations. After encountering great communication problem, because of regular telecom setup, during 2015 Nepal Earthquake, I realized how useful PACTOR IV and winlink are. I also knew how Olivia could be a low cost alternative of PACTOR for real emergency communication.

I believe FT-8 and JT-65 is not the end of the road, but just beginning of possibilities. I personally would like to request inventor of FT-8 mode, as millions of qsos proved its low signal capability, kindly improve it with possibility of sending larger text message. Even something close to cell phone SMS capability can save lives in country like Nepal.

9N1AA / Satish