This is my first ham radio blog post in quite a while. I have been very active, particularly on HF, continuing to work DX every day, including many of the dxpeditions.
This post, however, is about one subject that seems to raise the ire of many ham radio operators. It is that ubiquitous digital mode that we know as FT8.
Every day, and several times a day, there are spots on the DX clusters (mostly from fake callsigns and cowards who aren't willing to put their name/callsign with their opinion) deriding FT8. It's become a really boring and repetitive routine actually. The anti-FT8 brigade claim that FT8 is a mode that does not require a brain, and that the computer is doing all the work.
They are wrong, of course, to suggest that FT8 ops don't possess intellect or ability. For instance, I use FT8 pretty much every day, but I also like working DX on phone and CW. To successfully use FT8 to make QSOs on HF and VHF does take skill and knowledge. Getting your software (whether it's JTDX or WSJT-X) to communicate with your radio is not always easy, and adjusting your settings to ensure the optimal transmit and receive levels also involves some skill and knowledge.
I suspect, and have done for a long time now, that those who give out about FT8 being "too easy" are, in fact, fearful and ignorant of it. Yes, the fact that so many ham radio ops are on FT8 means that the SSB and CW portions of the bands are quieter than they used to be (except during SSB and CW contests, of course). But why waste time creating cluster spots using fake identities? Who's going to listen to someone who moans about FT8 being too easy? Those regular cluster spots are an annoyance, but you get used to ignoring them.
The fact of the matter is that FT8 levels the playing field to an extent for those of us with modest antennas. As a weak-signal mode, FT8 allows the opportunity to work DX that might not be audible on phone or on CW. If you consider that a form of cheating, well that is your opinion and you are entitled to it. What you are not entitled to is to spead anti-FT8 bile on the clusters, especially when you are not even willing to put your own callsign to those repetitive anti-FT8 messages.
Could it be remotely possible that at least some of those who castigate FT8 users do not, in fact, possess the technical knowledge to get their computer working with JTDX/WSJT-X, and are unable to make QSOs using the popular mode? I suspect this to be the case in many instances.
The hobby of amateur radio offers a wide variety of specialisation. You could, for instance, dedicate yourself to QSOs using moon-bounce (EME - Earth-Moon-Earth). You might be interested in building your own HF transceiver. You may be the sort of ham who experiments with various homebrew antennas. You might, like I do, enjoy making QSOs through the crossband VHF/UHF repeater on the International Space Station.
Whatever aspect of amateur radio you enjoy, it will involve a certain level of technical competence and knowledge. Is FT8 a step too far in terms of computer automation? Perhaps for some hams it is, but for all of us who actually use it every day (rather than deriding it on the clusters), it offers a new opportunity and mode with which to contact other hams around the globe.
You think it's too easy, and that the computer does all the work? I don't care what you think. I am not interested in your opinion.
FT8-bashers would make better use of their time and effort concentrating on those aspects of the hobby that they enjoy, as an alternative to attempting to make the rest of us feel somehow ashamed about enjoying FT8 as another aspect of the hobby.
Quit your whinging. Nobody likes a moaner. If you don't like FT8, that's your choice. But don't try to ram your opinion down our throats.
Where were all the protests when PSK was a popular digital mode? And do the FT8 haters not have an opinion about RTTY?
In any case, as an FT8 user, I can tell you that working Western Australia on 6 metres (using FT8) was one of the most exciting QSOs I've had in 15 years as a licenced ham. Maybe some day I'll make a similar long-distance QSO on 50Mhz using phone or CW. Maybe. But without FT8, I wouldn't have that DXCC in my 6m log.
And I ain't going to feel bad about it.
PS: On a side-note, surely it is time that all hams wishing to create spots on the DX clusters should have to log in and use their real callsigns? Clusters that allow anonymous or fake spots are a big part of the problem. If everyone had to log in and use their real identity, I suspect that most of the anti-FT8 spots would disappear.
