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Technician HF
- Thread starter Mudfoot
- Start date
All this makes me glad I do both and damn them that don't understand.
i own n use both, some act like its a damm law get into ham n use cb your doomed n barred for life
No. The dumbing down started with the introduction of SSB. By the time ft8 came along everyone was already brain dead.
I don't have a problem with ft8. Those that do are looking for something to be miserable about.
Fixed it for ya.
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No. The dumbing down started with the introduction of SSB. By the time ft8 came along everyone was already brain dead.
I don't have a problem with ft8. Those that do are looking for something to be miserable about.
Fixed it for ya.
Well I for one am NOT just looking for something to be miserable about. I am sick and tired of mindless minions on the air. IMHO FT8 is for the crowd that does not want to actually put any effort into anything. This way they don't have to put any effort into a decent antenna or learn anything about about propagation or just plain what works. It allows an automated contact using poor antennas and low power using zero operating skills or protocols. There is ZERO personality to the contacts. Even with CW there is a distinct character between operating techniques of the various operators unless they are in contest mode using a memory keyer. You seem to have an issue with SSB but if it wasn't for SSB most of the other modes including FT8 would not be possible. Ever try FT8 using AM? Sure it's possible but so is SSTV or RTTY using AM. I don't have an issue with AM in fact I plan a separate AM station and actually ran AM for a few years. Saying that things went to hell with the advent of SSB just shows a strong bias which is baseless. Once the test requirements dropped the technical side is when things went downhill and that happened long after the introduction of SSB.
Contrary to your statement i have some very decent antenna's up and started this last week on FT-8, just as challenge to get it working on the laptop and FT991A, as it now does.
Mostly I'm in phone, 43 years back when i got my license i threw the key away, never went back to CW out of choice.
Working with good antenna's looking for fringe contacts on bands that are just (not) open and see what is happening, looking for the opening first, and see what propagation is doing on weak signals.
When you point your finger to "people with mediocre antenna's) remember there are a lot living with an HOA, and cannot put up decent antenna's.
Generalisation mostly does not cut the cake.....
Everyone will use the hobby on his/her way, whatever their choice, i don't mind.
I don't make a difference between 11 meter people and hams.
I now drive a dinky car, no need for a big gas guzzler here, but i used to drive articulated trucks through Europe, does that make me now a bad driver as well?
Before you judge others, have a good look in the mirror.
Mostly I'm in phone, 43 years back when i got my license i threw the key away, never went back to CW out of choice.
Working with good antenna's looking for fringe contacts on bands that are just (not) open and see what is happening, looking for the opening first, and see what propagation is doing on weak signals.
When you point your finger to "people with mediocre antenna's) remember there are a lot living with an HOA, and cannot put up decent antenna's.
Generalisation mostly does not cut the cake.....
Everyone will use the hobby on his/her way, whatever their choice, i don't mind.
I don't make a difference between 11 meter people and hams.
I now drive a dinky car, no need for a big gas guzzler here, but i used to drive articulated trucks through Europe, does that make me now a bad driver as well?
Before you judge others, have a good look in the mirror.
I did FT8 once on the air (portable in the winter on top of a small SOTA summit). 8 watts got me into EU land. Too damned boring in that environment.
There are times when a crappy antenna is needed. I am in that very situation at the moment. Bare 64 foot free standing tower capable of 52 sq. ft of windloading and facing knee replacement surgery next month and cannot climb. What a waste. Best I can do is a wire at the moment. ALL the yagis are in the shop overhead in storage.Never said otherwise nor condemned anyone in those situations. EVER. The problem is that without any form of tech ability people are throwing up a G5RV or EFHW without any matching transformers and singing great praises as if they were the bestest (sp) antenna in the world because they just made an FT8 contact from New England to the UK. Big deal and zero effort as the computer did it all for them. Hardly the spirit of amateur radio. The hardest part was downloading and configuring the software which might require a minute amount of computer savy but zero real tech skills. Then they start looking at wanting to run 1500 watts into that same antenna system and can't figure out why things don't just "work". When I first entered the fray on 6m everything was on either 50.110 0r 50 .125 SSB. Look at the DX clusters now and all you see are 50.313 FT8 contacts. It seems the lower the tech requirement has become the lower the actual effort that is put into amateur radio and the further away we get from actually conversing with like minded individuals. BTW UR 5NN QSL?
I can see that as a great way to offer contacts from rare grids etc but from the shack at home from a common grid square...........nope.
I use ssb and I use it a lot. I do use ft8 if I get bored enough. I perfer AM when band conditions are favorable, but don't miss out on the fun of other modes.
I do think we can agree the dumbing down started long before ft8. I see your point though. A lot of people are plug and play appliance operators. I can live with that as long as they behave well on the air.
Those that want to use poor antennas and qrp don't bother me as long as they know when to stop talking. The weaker they are the longer they seem to talk. Let them tear it up on ft8.
Some of the old old guys that were around before ssb see it differently. IMHO SSB was the ft8 of its day. Some people didn't like it for various reasons and some still don't.
My biggest beef is how people act. The ones that feel entitled to tell others how they should operate and think they own a frequency. Don't get me started on nets.
......and that whole echo link thing.Just one more note on low power and poor antennas. If it weren't for ssb there wouldn't be as many people praising these crummy antennas. The AM mode is a good way to test antenna performance.
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Never had knee replacement and it is not something I would want.
A friend of mine had it done & the recovery took a while.
Now that I am older I can't climb any more. Fortunately when I put mine up 20 years ago
I bought a Hazer for it. Appreciate it more now than ever.
Hope all goes well with your surgery.
Cool and thanks. A Hazer system is nice however they do not work with tapered free standing towers. I personally would not have a tower that required guy wires but to each his own. My father had both knees replaced so I pretty much know what to expect.