Interested in Amateur Radio Digital Mode FT8 Operations?

N1EN · Sep 21, 2021

KY4GD said: ↑

TL;DR: Ham is what you make of it, there are plenty of ways to play.
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Amen

HL5ZEE · Sep 24, 2021

KY4GD said: ↑

And I genuinely do respect your feelings about that, but to me, ham radio is more than keying the mic and conversing, it is the whole process, from learning about and configuring antenna systems to understanding atmospheric conditions that affect propagation. My computer - powerful as it is - did none of those things for me. In fact, if anything, the computer only provided modulation (and automatic logging and a few other niceties).

If you consider amateur radio to be just the conversations that you have, you might consider DMR, or maybe even Skype. And I would think no less of you for it. But for many of us, playing radio is a way of learning about half a dozen other sciences at once, and the actual communication with other people is almost a side effect.

Again though, amateur radio is a huge hobby, and we can't tell one another the best way to to it any more that a fly fisherman can tell all other fishermen that their way is best. Try telling Joe Walsh that he isn't a REAL guitarist, because he uses an electric guitar, instead of acoustic.

Ham is not as small as a few people think it is. And again I want to stress that I say this with all due respect, especially since I am a new ham, and most of the people here on Zed including you know more about it than I ever will. But still, ham isn't a board game with defined rules, it is having the privilege to use RF in any way we like, within prescribed rules.

TL;DR: Ham is what you make of it, there are plenty of ways to play.
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Skype? FT8 is quite similar in terms of operator input and working a new DXCC on there is only marginally more difficult than making a Skype call!

UT7UX · Sep 24, 2021

HL5ZEE said: ↑

Skype?
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Echolink, DMR, etc. They call it 'amateur radio' while use their phones and/or PCs but not the radio to connect to reflector, talking group, whatever.

HL5ZEE said: ↑

FT8 is quite similar in terms of operator input and working a new DXCC on there is only marginally more difficult than making a Skype call!
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Yesterday yes. Today not anymore. Today FT8 (sub)bands are full of local traffic that jams DXs entirely so FT8 becomes too hard to work DX. Unexpectedly FT8 turns a effort-demanding (i.e. rotatable beam demanding) mode.

Interested in Amateur Radio Digital Mode FT8 Operations?

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